Alice's shiny new puppy love
by Littlefang83
Summary: Bracken's not only the new girl in forks... she's also a werewolf. not only does Bracken bring a new friendship, but also a lot of trouble for Bella and the Cullen's... in more ways than one.
1. New dog on the block

Chapter one:

"Bedtime Bracken, your first day at school tomorrow" Anastasia McCanse said as she walked into the room, "Mama, do you think father will allow me to finish the school year?" Bracken asked as she placed her book on her bedside table. Anastasia smiled and ruffled Bracken's blood red hair "do not worry my little wolf cub, I did promise you", Bracken smiled "thank you mama, I'm glad". Anastasia smiled "you are not like your brothers, I am glad. Good night my darling one", Anastasia's Russian accent was thick. Bracken loved that about her mother, it gave her distinction. Bracken laid down and closed her eyes, tomorrow was looking brighter already.

Bracken grabbed her lunch bag and rucksack and headed out the front door, it took her all of a few minutes to run to school even though the manor was outside of the town's limits. The benefits of being a werewolf she thought to herself, as she slowed to a stop and casually walked though the school's car park. Bracken stopped and looked at the school, a huge smile cutting across her face. "Hi are you lost? I can show you around if you want" a sweet voice asked from behind, Bracken turned around to see a girl with long black hair smile at her. Bracken sniffed up quickly she smelled of vanilla and cherry blossom, bracken realised she got lost in the new scent and didn't notice that the girl was talking. "I'm Bella Swan" the girl said as she held her hand out, Bracken took the offered hand "Bracken, Bracken McCanse. Um.....where do I go to get my timetable?" Bella pointed at the main building "admin, I'll take you up there".

Bracken walked into biology class with Bella and sat down most of the class was pretty boring, Bracken knew everything being said and spent most of the lesion helping Bella understand what was going on. "Bracken's an unusual name where's it from?" Bella asked, Bracken smiled "if you think that's unusual, you haven't heard my middle names". "Which are?" Bella asked, wondering what could possibly be more unusual that Bracken, "Vladimir Rasputin" Bracken said with a shrug. Bella put her hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle just as the teacher looked up, Bracken nodded and carried on talking "my father is Welsh and Scottish Celtic so I was named bracken with McCanse being my surname, Vladimir and Rasputin are cos my mama is Russian". Bella nodded and carried on with the lesion, "so.....do you speak Russian then? Cos that would be cool if you did" Bella asked. Bracken nodded "and French, Gaelic, Latin, Mandarin and Cantonese, Italian and Japanese", Bella's jaw dropped at the long list of languages. Bracken just shrugged and scribbled on a piece of paper as the teacher looked at them, as the paper was handed to Bella she noticed the scribbled not was an impeccable slanted script that read

_I was homeschooled and we moved a lot, mama placed a lot of emphasis on languages._

Most of the day was pretty boring after that, Bella asked endless question and Bracken answered as best as she could without letting on that she was a werewolf. Lunch wasn't any easier, Bella's friends asked even more questions and Bracken had trouble keeping track of them all. Mike and Jessica were the nosiest of them all, "so what else can you do?" Mike asked as he took a big bite of his chicken salad sandwich. Bracken looked at him in confusion and shrugged "same things as you, I'm not a Martian", Jessica laughed "sorry about Mike, he doesn't think before he speaks. He should have said is there anything else you can do, like play an instrument?". Bracken nodded "I'm taking music, I play piano, guitar, violin, flute, drums, cello and harp", everyone's jaws dropped at the list, it was obvious that Bracken was an incredible person with so many god given talents. "Do you even have a life?" Mike asked, Jessica hit mike on the back of the head and sent Bracken an apologetic look. Bracken laughed "yes I do have a life, I live for music and play it in my spare time. I do other things as well, I'm just able to pick things up quickly".

Bella nodded, thinking that Bracken reminded her exactly of the Cullen's. All were very talented, all had their own skills, only difference was they had a long time to perfect their talents. Bracken was a 17 year old teenager , a teenager who must have devoted a lot of energy in that short time to her skills. Bracken, at that time looked to be a very remarkable girl. Eventually the bell rang and everyone left for their respected classes, Bracken headed off to music after agreeing to meet Bella after. As Bella arrived at Music to wait for Bracken, he heard a beautiful melody being played, the only thing that equalled it was the lullaby written for her by Edward. Bella poked her head in through the doorway and saw Bracken on her own at the piano, her eyes were closed and she was nodding in time with the music. Once the song finished Bella approached and clapped, completely in awe of the song played a moment ago. Bracken blushed and bowed her head "did you like it?", "you wrote it?" Bella asked in amazement, Bracken nodded "when I was about 10, I like playing it from time to time". Bella's jaw dropped "10? No way, that was beautiful", Bracken blushed even more "thank you, I appreciate it". 

Bracken got up and walked over to some mother instruments in one corner of the room, "music is my life, mama and I would play for hours together. It bonded us closer than anything else could have" Bracken said thoughtfully as she stroked her hand over the top of a violin case on one of the desks. Bella watched Bracken as she walked around smiling, Bracken reminded her so much of Edward in that sense, she thought of how Bracken and Edward would make a good choice of friendship. They talked the rest of the day, about each of the Cullen children, and Bracken listened intently to the descriptions. "They're not here today but they'll be in school tomorrow, I'll introduce you to them at lunch" Bella said as they walked out of class, Bracken nodded "cool, I like making friends. So I'll see you tomorrow then?". Bella nodded and they both separated. Bracken wandered towards the woods slowly until she was sure no one could see her, one quick look back to make sure and she broke out into a full sprint home.

Bracken stopped at the front door of the large manor house, it was a gothic style with large windows. The door was a large double door and the house was a dark grey colour, Bracken shivered when she thought about who was waiting inside. She slowly opened the door and poked her head inside, Bracken walked up the stairs and stopped outside a door. She opened the door and walked in, as soon as she opened the door she was tackled by a speeding lump the latched onto her tightly. "Bracken! Your home your home!" came a cry from the lump latched onto her stomach, Bracken laughed and hugged her younger brother tightly "yeah Cubby, I'm home. How was your day?". Cubby shrugged and let go "father took me hunting, I wanna go to school too", Bracken looked at their mother sat on the bed sewing a ripped pair of trousers "mama?". Anastasia looked at Bracken and shook her head "It was hard enough for me to persuade your father to allow you to attend, it would be impossible for your brother".

"Where is father?" Bracken asked as she walked over to her mother and hugged her, "with your other brothers, hunting on their own" Anastasia replied as Bracken took her place at her mother's feet. Cubby pulled a book off his shelf and sat at his desk to read, one of Brackens old physics books. Bracken watched Cubby sadly as he studied, it seemed unfair that she could attend school and make friends and be young. Cubby had to stay at home and study from books and hunt with his older brothers, never being allowed to be young, never allowed to make friends. Bracken hated her father for what he was doing to her brother, "I made a friend today, and she's going to introduce me to her friends tomorrow" Bracken said as she looked up at her mother. Anastasia smiled at her daughter "that is wonderful Bracken, what is her name? Is she in your class? Tell me everything", Bracken laughed "her name is Bella mama, she's in some of my classes. She's really nice and kind, we get along really well and it's like we've been friends for years". Anastasia nodded and stood "well I must leave you both, I have things do before your father and brothers arrive home", she kissed both of her children on the head and left the room.

Bracken got out her homework and sat on Cubby's bed, it took her no more than an hour to complete it all as she'd had already completed this year and remembered all the work. Once she had finished her work, she tutored her brother and checked his work. She ran his bath and made sure he got cleaned up, then took him downstairs to say goodnight to his father and took him back to his room. Bracken read Cubby a story and tucked him in, "goodnight Cubs" Bracken said as she gave him a kiss on his forehead. "Goodnight Brackie" Cubby yawned as he closed his eyes, Bracken smiled and headed out to hunt for her supper. The hunt didn't take too long and Bracken hated doing it, but the problem with being a werewolf is that hunting is a necessity. Bracken always made sure the kill was a quick and as clean as possible, she hated thinking that an animal had to suffer for her needs.

The next day Bracken ran to school in record time and waited for Bella's truck to arrive, soon enough the red truck pulled up and Bella hopped out. She gave Bracken a happy wave and walked over, Bracken smiled at Bella and the two fell into step with each other. "At lunch your sitting with me and the Cullen's, your gonna love them" Bella said happily, Bracken nodded mutely and waved goodbye once they arrived at Bella's first class. Classes were boring for Bracken, she got all the answers right and all her homework was done on time. Bracken found herself counting down the seconds until lunch, not just because of Bella but also because she was unusually hungry.

Finally it was lunch time and Bracken hurried to the lunch hall, she froze when she walked through the doors. Bracken sniffed up and creased her brow in confusion as she tried to work out the scent, she looked over at the table Bella was sat at and shock set in as she realised what the scent was. Bella was sat at a table with five vampires! Did Bella know she was sitting at a table with five bloodthirsty vampires? How could she? She wouldn't be there if she did. One of the vampires, a tall boy with brown hair sniffed up and looked over at Bracken. Suddenly the other four sniffed and looked over, with looks that signalled they wanted to rip her heart and eat it. Bracken's heart stopped and she backed out of the lunch hall just as she saw the brown haired boy and a blonde haired girl whisper to each other. One thing she did notice as she was leaving was a small girl with messy black hair, she was sat watching Bracken with curiosity not anger. Bracken ran down the halls to the only room in the school that she knew she'd feel calm again.

Bella walked to the music room and looked in, Bracken was not sat at the piano, but this time was stood with a violin. Bella walked in and sat on a table near to Bracken, she folded her arms and looked irritated at the girl. "What was that Brack?"Bella asked as Bracken looked up, "what was what Bells?"Bracken asked trying to play it off casually.

"Running out of the lunch hall"

Bracken looked down "oh"

"Yeah, oh. So what was it?" Bella asked in frustration

Bracken shrugged "they made me uncomfortable"

Bella shook her head "uncomfortable" she repeated

Bracken put the violin away in its case and paced the room as Bella watched "Bella, they looked at me like they wanted to rip my head off or something. It's clear they don't like me, no point in pushing anything". Bella shook her head and walked out of the room.

The five vampires sat at the table in the lunch hall, speaking so quiet that only they could hear. The brown haired boy spoke up "does Bella realise that she's friends with a werewolf?", "don't think so Edward, she'd have said if she did" A blonde boy spoke. A third boy spoke "We should tell her, could be dangerous", a blonde girl spoke up "Emmet's right, she's not like the La Push wolves. We don't know what she's capable of". The pixie like girl finally spoke "we should let Bella Make up her own mind about her friends", "Rosalie is right Alice, we should tell Bella" Edward shot at Alice. "We cannot reveal another's identity, it's unfair and immoral. We should leave it up to the wolf to reveal herself to Bella in her own time, Bella will be fine until then". Alice was the first to leave the table and the lunch hall, followed silently by the others.


	2. authors note

Author's note:

Ok people, so i noticed that i missed some stuff in the first chapter. Like a disclaimer (gotta cover my ass here), so basically i own nothing. Really i don't, nothing at all to do with Twilight....... only Bracken and her family (cool i own a werewolf family). In my rush to post the 1st chapter i forgot to put that down, anyway.

2nd chapter is up soon, give me a few days. I'm just putting finishing touched to it. In the 2nd chapter you learn more about Bracken's origins, and start to learn a little bit more bout Bracken herself. Alice might meet her but im not sure if that'll be 3rd chapter or not. If anyone has any ideas about how the story can go, feel free to review. Always happy to listen to advice. Or you can e-mail me, .uk

Well anyway i'm off to do 2nd chapter, trust me it's gonna get better and better. Lots more action and people getting hurt.

Thanks


	3. history lessions

**Chapter two is up people! Enjoy**

Chapter two: History lesions

"What was that?!" Bella yelled as she followed Edward into the Cullen's house, "what was what?" Edward asked casually, he knew exactly what she mint of course. Bella had been giving him the silent treatment the rest of the day and Edward was waiting for Bella to start shouting. "The look you were giving Bracken!" Bella yelled even louder this time, causing Carlisle and Esme to come and watch. Edward turned around once he was in the centre of the room "Everyone else was staring at her the same way", "I'm not going out with everyone else Edward! Bracken is my friend and I would expect you to treat her with more respect that you have today!" Bella was near hysterical now and Edward found it all funny. Alice moved to stand beside Carlisle and Esme and whispered "Bella's new friend, tell you when she's gone", Carlisle nodded "how long till she leaves?". Before Alice could answer, Bella answered for her, "I'm not spending the night with you Edward, I'm just too mad right now" Bella said as she stormed off. "Now" Alice said simply.

"So, can someone tell us what's going on?" Esme said as she rubbed her temples with her thumbs, "Bella's friends with a new kind of werewolf and she doesn't know it" Emmet said sitting on the sofa. "A Russian werewolf who smells nothing like the La Push ones" Rosalie added, Carlisle looked thoughtful "did this wolf have a pendant of any kind". Alice nodded "a pentagram with words and symbols around the edge, why?", Esme looked at Carlisle with worry "it couldn't be could it?". Edward looked at the two of them "what couldn't what be?", Carlisle looked at each of his children "sit down, this is a long story".

"The werewolves you know are what's known today as new world werewolves, but there are another kind, older than these. Known only as old world wolves, these old world wolves are much more dangerous than the new world kind. They are bigger, stronger, faster and have an unbreakable desire to overpower and wipe out all vampires" Carlisle started. He paused to gauge their reaction then carried on, "they originated in Europe and at one point were spread throughout most of the world, except this continent. Their numbers slowly dwindled and they drew back into Europe, the biggest two clans were the Richenski's of Russia and the McCance of Britain.". Emmet pointed "Bracken's surname's McCance!", Carlisle nodded and carried on. "Both were headed by particularly bloodthirsty werewolves. Vladimir Richenski, and Callum McCance. Apparently they married off two of their children to join clans and became even more powerful then they were on their own, as all other old world clans were dying out, they held onto their power and became even stronger".

Edward lent forward and stared at Carlisle "so Bracken is one of these old world werewolves, that means she's a threat to us". Carlisle shook his head "I don't know Edward, if she ran away from you then she might not be so much of a threat. She would only be a cub after all, I think it's best to wait and see how this plays out for now. Keep your distance but allow Bella to be friends with Bracken, she's not at any risk right now". Edward stood quickly "yeah right now. But what about tomorrow or next week! Carlisle you can think we should let her stay friends with that wolf!", Alice stood "Bella can make her own decisions in life, and I don't think Bracken will hurt her either". "She's a wolf Alice......A WOLF!" Edward yelled, Jasper focused on Edward but he was already too worked up to calm down. "Edward, let Bella make her own mistakes in life. Just be there to catch her when she falls down, like a good boyfriend does. And you will not tell her that Bracken is a werewolf" Esme said calmly "understand?". Edward nodded and after shooting a murderous glare at Alice, stormed off to his room, "I'm going to see if Bella is ok" Alice announced and walked out of the house.

Alice sat outside Bella's bedroom window and watched her, Bella was sat at her computer studying. Alice opened the window and climbed in silently, waiting for Bella to look up. "Sorry bout Edward Bella, he can be a real dick sometimes" Alice said as she sat on Bella's bed, Bella nodded "it's ok Alice, it's not you that's trying to stop me making a friend. I just don't understand why though? What's so bad about Bracken". Alice shrugged and looked away, she hated hiding something from her best friend but she knew she had to. Bella slumped down in her chair and played with a pen "Bracken's really nice, she's new here like I was, all I want is to be her friend", Alice nodded "I know, I don't see anything wrong with it". Bella looked up at Alice with tears in her eyes "he's just hurting me, why can't he see that?", Alice moved over to kneel next to Bella, she put her arms around Bella and held her tightly. And for the next few minutes that's exactly where they stayed, Bella crying and Alice holding her. "Well it'll only be Jasper, Edward and I from tomorrow. Emmett and Rosalie are off to Africa tomorrow night" Alice said trying to change the subject slightly "another honeymoon".

"Why are you supporting this Alice? Don't you know this is dangerous" Edward said as Alice walked returned home, "dangerous for who Edward?" Alice said as she walked past her brother. "This is not only dangerous for us but also for Bella, she's a magnet for danger and this is potentially life threatening" Edward replied as he followed Alice. Alice spun quickly to face Edward "for once Edward your way off, all your doing is hurting Bella. She doesn't understand why you won't let her be friends with Bracken". Emmett sighed "I'm so glad we're leaving tomorrow night", Rosalie nodded "definitely, but seeing Edward and Bella argue like this is certainly going to be entertaining". "Edward you will not stop Bella being friends with Bracken, if they become good friends we will know how much of a threat this Bracken really is" Carlisle said, Alice smiled and walked over to stand by Jasper. Edward shot a murderous glare at Alice and stormed off to his room, "you really shouldn't wind Edward up Alice" Jasper said quietly. "I know, but its fun. He gets wound up so easy" Alice replied with a laugh, Esme sighed as she watched her daughter. Alice stood up "I'm going hunting, who wants to come?", Jasper sighed and stood to follow his girlfriend.

Bracken sighed and followed her brothers into the woods, the four wolves walked silently through the trees. The sound of her brothers thoughts running through her mind, communicating silently with her. _Elk, 20 miles to the left. We're heading over there _her eldest brother Sandy said to the pack, Bracken sighed to herself as she changed course. _I was hoping we could hunt closer to home, I have to be up early for school _Bracken asked, Sandy stopped running and pounced on his sister. His giant paw slapped across Brackens head knocking her over, Bracken yelped as Sandy beat her hard. After her beating Bracken got back up and followed several feet behind the pack as punishment. Remus looked over his shoulder at his sister and shook his head, she would often speak out at her brother and endure some severe beatings for it. He felt a twinge of sympathy for the young cub, but unfortunately he was bound by pack rules. Bracken looked Remus and nodded as they ran, signalling that she was O.K. _Let's just get this hunt over with, the Elk will be gone by the time we get there _Bracken said to Remus, Sandy gave the signal and they spread out in a line. Bracken kept her head down and stared straight ahead as she saw the elk her brother had picked, and injured Elk who couldn't run as fast as the rest of the heard.

Sandy and Romulus charged ahead with Remus and Bracken running further back, Bracken watched as her three brothers caught the Elk and took him down. Knowing her brothers could handle the Elk she spotted an older Elk left on his own and chased after him. Bracken kept her head down and sped after the Elk, within seconds she had him down and it proved an easy kill. Bracken sat on the floor and waited for her brothers, all of a sudden she felt a furry lump slam into her and knock her to the floor. Sandy was growling and snarling and hitting her hard on the head with his giant paws once again. Bracken yelped as he kept hitting her and it took all of her will power to not try and fight back, Romulus and Remus had changed back already and watched as Sandy carried on his attack. "Sandy, you have punished her enough. Stop we need to get the Elk's home" Romulus said calmly, Sandy moved back and changed to his human form "you insolent little whelp! I did not tell you to go after your own Elk!". "The family need two Elks Sandy, you three had that one down without my help so I went after another easy kill" Bracken replied, within seconds she realised her mistake as Sandy growled and moved towards her. "Sandy" Romulus said and halted his brother, "you're a gluten for punishment Bracken" Remus said as the other two walked off to get one of the Elk.

"Bracken what happened to you?" Anastasia asked in shock as her daughter limped in carrying one of the Elk, "nothing Mama, I'm fine" Bracken said as she carried the Elk to the kitchen. Anastasia watched her daughter cut one of the Elk up into portions and sighed "did Sandy do this to you again?", Bracken sighed "It's nothing Mama, I spoke out of turn and failed to follow orders. Sandy was keeping me in line". Anastasia stormed out of the kitchen and into the study "How dare you attack Bracken like that Sandy, she was thinking about the needs of the family and you punished her!", Sandy looked at his mother calmly knowing that his father would speak for him. "Sandy was commanding the pack like a good alpha male would, Bracken should have asked for permission before she went after her own kill" Callum said to his mate. "Have you seen your daughter Callum? She is covered in bruises and cuts. That is not the behaviour of the Alpha male" Anastasia argued back, "If Bracken insists on acting like a male then she will be treat like a male. No leave, we will be eating in a moment" Callum said as he waved his mate away.

"You should get some rest Bracken, and no school for you tomorrow" Anastasia said as she fed with her two youngest cubs, "Mama I'll be fine, school is the best place for me. Please let me go to school" Bracken pleaded. Bracken really didn't want to stay at home, she wanted to be as far away from her aggressive older brother as possible and school was the only excuse she had for being out of the house. Anastasia thought about it and sighed "fine, but you must take it easy and no gym class. Not get yourself and your brother cleaned up and get into bed". The two cubs kissed their mother good night and walked off. "Will I get beaten up when I get older?" Cubby asked as they cleaned the blood off themselves, Bracken shook her head " no, Sandy just hates me". Cubby nodded and hugged his sister "well I love you Brackie", Bracken smiled "love you too Cubbie, now let's get to bed. I got to be up early for school".

**A/N: ok so I don't own any of the characters, but I do own Bracken and her family. This is the last chapter I might be posting for about 2 weeks or so, I'm off to Spain with my girlfriend and her parents. But I'll be posting as soon as I can, I want to get chapters up as soon as can. And if anyone have any suggestions or any requests, anything you want to see happen in the story then please let me know. Either review or e-mail me direct, I love constructive advice and love to make my readers happy. The plan with this story is that I'm just gonna run with it and see where it takes me. I don't know everything that's gonna happen so anything can happen, but I do know it's gonna be good.**


	4. first impressions

**A/N: the usual disclaimer, I own nothing to do with Twilight, none of the characters or places or anything like that. Ok now that's out of the way and I can't get sued or anything, I can announce that chapter three is up. Alice meets Bracken! Edward acts like a complete ass and other things happen! So hope you enjoy.**

Chapter Three: First impressions are the easiest to make

Bracken walked into English class Monday morning with a slight limp, she sat next to Bella who looked shocked. "Oh my god! Bracken what happened to you? Who did this?" Bella asked, her voice barely rising above a whisper. Bracken winced as she realised that her injuries looked really bad "nothing Bella....... I just got a little carried away in the woods by my house. I..... uh...... fell out of a tree when the branch broke" Bracken said in an embarrassed tone. Bella looked over Bracken "you look terrible Bracken, you have a huge bruise on the side of your head, you walk with a limp and I bet you got loads more bruises under your top considering the way you're hunched over in your seat". Bracken looked down at the table and whispered "it was a big tree; it was like 20 foot an I got to the top...... I hit pretty much every branch on the way down". Bella's eyes widened in shock as Bracken told the tale of the tree "oh my god. Are you ok? Did you go to the hospital? What did the doctor say?", Bracken looked at Bella "fine, no and nothing" Bella looked puzzled so Bracken carried on "I didn't want a fuss made, I walked home ok so Mama said I didn't have to go".

"are you still sitting with me and my friends in lunch today?" Bella asked as they walked to the lunch hall, Bracken shook her head "can't, I gotta do something in the music room. I have to work on something I'm composing". "can't you take a break your always doing something for music, I know it's your life and everything but surely you can take a break to make some friends" Bella said. Bracken shrugged "sorry, it's a complicated piece. I'm doing several parts and it all has to be done in sections", Bella sighed "ok, but I'll get you to meet them sooner or later". Bracken sighed and shook her head as she watched Bella walk off, "no chance Bella, those vampires would rip my head off if I got close enough" Bracken said as she walked off to the music room. Bella sat at her usual table which seamed empty now that Emmett and Rosalie had left for Africa, she smiled at Edward and started playing with her food. "What's wrong Bella?" Alice asked as she watched her best friend, Bella shrugged "nothing Alice, but could you do me a favour?". "Alice nodded "Anything Bella, what is it?", Bella looked out the window for a second "would you come somewhere with me after lunch?".

Alice nodded and looked over at Edward who looked like he wanted to say something, Alice knew it was something to do with Bracken and knew that Edward knew it as well. Alice didn't need to be able to see the future to see that Edward wanted to ask where Bracken was, but he was holding it back because really he didn't care. Alice sighed quietly and looked at Jasper who returned her gaze, he also didn't need to use his power to know that Edward was jealous of Bella's new friendship. Alice knew that Bracken would possibly destroy her family without even trying, and she also knew she needed a way to stop that from happening. After Bella finished her lunch she got up from the table and motioned for Alice to follow, Alice got up and the two walked out of the lunch hall together. "probably going to do some girly thing" Jasper said to no one in particular, Edward shook his head and stared at the door her sister and girlfriend walked out of "we both know exactly what they're going to do Jasper", Jasper nodded and the two walked out of the hall silently.

Bella and Alice walked down the corridor together, Bella not saying anything and Alice watching her, waiting for her to say something. Finally they stopped outside the music room and Alice could hear some of the most beautiful music being played, "I asked you to come because I know that out of the three of you, you're most likely to give this a fair shot" Bella said quietly. Alice had a feeling she knew what Bella was talking about and nodded "of course Bella, I told you anything after all", Bella nodded and opened the door slowly and the pair walked quietly in. Alice stopped and watched, sat at the piano, was Bracken. She looked completely lost in the music, her eyes were closed and she was bobbing her head in time with the piece she was playing. Alice didn't recognise the music as anything composed by any famous composer, Bella whispered "this is something Bracken came up with herself, this is the first instrument she's recording". "There are more?" Alice asked in amazement, Bella nodded "she's been working on this for a while, she spent days preparing for it. Deciding what instruments to use and then coming up with the music for each. Now she's recording and then she'll add all the tracks together to make the finished song. Good isn't it?". Alice just watched Bracken in amazement, this did not look like a dangerous killer hell bent on killing all vampires, she simply looked like an 18 year old high school student trying to get a good grade.

Once the music stopped Bella started clapping loudly and Alice joined in the applause, Bracken turned on the stool and froze when she saw Alice. "That was amazing Bracks, your definitely going to get an A+"Bella said as she walked up to Bracken, Bella saw Bracken looking at Alice and cleared her throat "Bracken, this is my best friend Alice Cullen, Alice this is Bracken". Alice slowly walked up to Bracken and smiled softly "that was truly a beautiful piece Bracken, I'm sure the rest of it will sound just as good", Bracken Blushed but still kept some of the look of fear on her eyes "uh.......thanks Alice". Bella saw the looks between the two of them and cleared her throat once more "do you mind if we watch you work Bracks, we have some time on our hands and Alice is a big music lover", "not as much as Edward is though" Alice said not taking her eyes off Bracken. Bracken shrugged and moved over to the laptop she had brought in to set up ready for the next track, Bracken picked up a violin and took a deep calming breath before playing.

Alice watched Bracken with an intense interest, she could see that Bracken didn't just play the music, she felt it as well. The way she closed her eyes as she played, they way she swayed her body with every haunting note. The way she changed tempo so fluidly, it was like the violin was an extension of her body and she was doing something completely natural to her. To Alice it was the most beautiful sight in the world, even more beautiful than when Edward played piano, which Alice admitted was a beautiful thing to watch. After a minute or so, Alice felt herself swaying slightly in time with the music and closed her eyes to try and absorb to emotions that Bracken was obviously feeling as she played. She finally realised that there was nothing to fear with Bracken, that she was not a dangerous killer, she was only a child like Bella. Someone who feared them. Once Bracken finished and stopped the recording, Alice and Bella started clapping and smiling. Bracken bowed slowly and smiled.

Alice noticed that she relaxed slightly and decided to try and make conversation, "So Bracken, you just moved here right?". Bracken nodded "yeah, for about a year while I finish school", "Are you enjoying it here so far?" Alice pushed a little further, Bracken nodded "it's nice, a small community where everyone knows everyone else, that's nice". The three walked out of the music room together, Bella kept quiet to allow Alice and Bracken time to talk, this was exactly what she wanted to happen. Bracken was stiff when she walked compared to Alice's fluid dance like movements, Alice wanted her to relax some more "Bella said your too busy to sit with us at lunch, I would really love it if you would try and find the time tomorrow" Alice ended the sentence by placing her hand softly on Bracken's arm. The motion only made Bracken stiffen more, she closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath "I...I get really busy with this assignment". Alice touched Bracken's arm once more and stopped walking as they reached her classroom, Alice turned to Bracken and smiled "how about if Bella and I sit at a separate table from my brother's would that make you more comfortable?". Bracken nodded silently, unable to speak for some reason, the touch from the pixie like vampire was like little bolts of electricity running though her arm. Alice smiled and walked into class, Bella smiled at bracken and followed Alice.

As the two friends walk out of school together, they spotted Edward giving Alice a murderous glare. Bella looked at Alice who shrugged in confusion, the two walked closer to the silver Volvo and said their good-byes. "What was that?" Edward demanded as Alice walked up to them and kissed Jasper, "what was what exactly dear brother?" Alice asked innocently. "Don't pretend Alice, you know what I'm talking about" Edward hissed at her, "Don't you dare hiss at me Edward Cullen" Alice warned "and where I go with my friend is none of your business". "She's the enemy, we should be staying away from her not making friends" Edward reminded her as his anger increased, "maybe if you tried to get to know Bracken you'd be surprised Edward" Alice said as she got into the back of the car "oh and Bella and myself shall be eating lunch with her tomorrow". Edward looked like she had grown another head while Jasper simply shrugged and got into the car as well, "you will not be eating lunch with Bracken tomorrow or any other day" Edward demanded. "you are not my father Edward, you cannot and shall not tell me what to do with my free time" Alice replied coldly before looking out the window. Jasper sighed as he realised that this argument would go on between them for a very long time as neither will ever admit to being in the wrong about something.

The three got out of the car and walked through the garage into the house, Edward decided to restart the argument with Alice "I mean what I said Alice, I forbid you". Hearing what Edward said Alice spun around with a new kind of rage burning in her eyes, "you forbid me Edward?.....YOU FORBID ME?!" she yelled as the pair stood in the middle of the living room, Esme rushed in and stood next to Jasper who was trying and failing to calm Alice down. "yes Alice, I forbid you. She is a danger to our family as well as Bella and it is my duty to protect both" Edward declared, Alice poked Edward in the chest "you're a real idiot Edward! If you took the time to get to know Bracken you'll find that she's not the blood thirsty killer that these werewolves are rumoured to be!". Esme sighed and knew exactly what they were arguing about, she also knew she needed to stop it before they had a physical fight. "Edward, you cannot forbid Alice from doing anything. That's mine and Carlisle's place as your parents" Esme said calmly as both teens turned to look at her. "thank you" Alice said as she went to hug her mother, Edward look like he was about to argue something but Esme spoke first cutting him off "we have already said that we will not treat Bracken as a threat, if Alice wants to get to know her then she is allowed to do so and you will not come between them". Edward was about to argue again so Esme spoke once more "do you understand me Edward?", Edward nodded and shot Alice a murderous glance before storming off to his room.

Alice Kissed her mother on the cheek before taking Jasper's hand and leading him off to her bedroom, once inside, Jasper shut the door and watched Alice as she stormed around the room. "he's a fucking prick! Seriously Jasper what's his problem?!" Alice screamed as she fell back onto her bed, Jasper shrugged and moved to sit next to her "I don't know love, but you shouldn't let him get to you so much". "well that's not hard when he says stupid things like that, who does he think he is trying to forbid me like that?" Alice replied, Jasper cuddled her into him more and kissed the top of her head "I understand but you shouldn't aggravate him like that, you know it only makes him stand his ground more". Alice nodded and the pair laid in the same position for an unknown amount of time, finally Alice moved up to kiss Jasper softly on his lips "thank you Jasper, I needed this" she said before getting up. "anything for you my love" Jasper replied as he got up and walked off to his room for some much needed alone time, laying on his girlfriends bed with her and not doing anything was his personal hell, but she needed him to comfort her not fuck her.

Alice had a nice hot shower, she knew Jasper wanted so much when they were lying together. His body made it very clear to her what he wanted, and she felt very guilty about it. But she knew he understood what she needed and was willing to suffer in order to give her what she needed, she loved him very much for everything he did for her. Alice stood still and felt the hot water run over her body, the steam billowed around her as she washed herself. She got out of the shower and dried off, getting dressed Alice walked downstairs. Esme was watching an art program on T.V, Carlisle was reading a medical journal and Edward was in a corner reading. Alice went to kiss Carlisle on the cheek and then went to sit on the sofa next to Esme, "are you going to see Bella Edward?"Alice asked as she cuddled up to Esme. Edward nodded "I'm going on a quick hunt and then I'm taking her to the movies, why?", Alice shrugged "I was going to say tell her I said hi is all". Edward huffed and looked at the T.V in an attempt to ignore Alice, Alice sighed and in an attempt to make peace with her brother, went over and threw her arms around his shoulders. Edward softened and nodded "OK Alice, I'll tell her", "thanks" Alice said with a smile and went back to sit with Esme.

Deep in the woods a figure sat in a tall tree silently watching, watching some deer grazing one last time before sleeping. Bracken lowered herself down and quietly changed into a wolf, her family were already eating at home, and Bracken was only hunting for herself. She sprinted full speed after the oldest one, she hated catching the baby's. The deer she targeted ran in a different direction than the others and Bracken sped after it, they swerved through the trees with Bracken closing the space between them. She could smell the fear coming off the deer in waves, it only made Bracken's mouth water and her speed increase. Finally she leapt and landed square on the deer's back, biting hard on the deer's neck she severed the jugular vein and tugged hard, snapping its neck. She always went for a quick kill when she was on her own, she hated prolonging her pray's agony, feeling sympathy for the poor animals. Bracken ate as much as she needed and rushed home, changing before she walked into the house. Bracken went upstairs to the room she shared with her bother Cubby, who was listening to a book their mother was reading to him.

Bracken sat down at the desk and finished her homework while she half listened to the story being told, "I think I made another friend today" Bracken said without looking up. "That's wonderful Bracken, tell me about them" Anastasia said in her thick Russian accent, Bracken looked down and spoke in Russian quietly "she is a vampire Mama, she's really nice and she's a friend of Bella's. She wants me to sit with them tomorrow at lunch" Anastasia watched her daughter, she could see Bracken was waiting for her mother to say whether she approved or not. Anastasia smiled and replied in Russian "If you think she is nice then by all means, be friends with her", Bracken looked up in surprise "but I told you she's a vampire, we're supposed to hate them". Anastasia smiled "Bracken my little one, I have always trusted you. I know you will always make whatever decision you believe to be right", Bracken nodded "thanks Mama". Anastasia nodded "now, off to bed. Cubby is fast asleep and you should be too", Bracken nodded and Anastasia left her to get ready for bed.

**A/N 2: ok, I managed to get this chapter done before I left for my holiday, I spent about 4 hours working on it nonstop. It's a little rushed but I really wanted to get Alice and Bracken's friendship kicked off, otherwise I'll spend the whole 2 weeks in Spain wishing I had got more done. The next chapter will show Bella and Bracken spending more time together and show Bella and Alice trying to get Edward to see Bracken for who she is and not the reputation. As you might have guessed Bracken is not your typical werewolf, as always suggestions or requests are very welcomed. Thanks **


	5. Family plots can be downright evil

**A/N: Oh my god people! So many things have happened recently, I must have the worst luck known to man! I wrote my chapter then the second charger we bought for the laptop broke so we had to wait two weeks before we could get another one, then I lost word due to a computer reboot, then before I could get word again the internet goes, then when we do get the internet the laptop broke. Then I get some good news in the form of a second hand computer cheap........ But it doesn't work with the mobile broadband we subscribed to. Then I get attacked and had to have emergency surgery to have a metal brace hold the bone in my mouth together and had weeks of recovery to go through. Then some more good news, we get laptop fixed....... but I find out I only have chapter one on disk, so I had to re-read the other 2 chapters on my account so I can re-write chapter 4. Sorry for the delay.**

Chapter four: family plots can be downright evil

Two weeks went by and Bracken and Alice became closer friends, they ate lunch with Bella on a table away from Edward and Jasper. Alice and Bella listened to Bracken play music in the music room, and talked in the two classes they had together. Things were going pretty well for the two girls and Bella couldn't be happier about it, her two friends we getting close and that was exactly what she wanted. Edward was visibly still angry about the three girl's friendship, but refrained from voicing his opinions further. Bella still wondered what Edward's problem with Bracken was but as hard as she tried to figure it out, Bella was still at a loss as to understand what it was that he hated so much about her. Alice couldn't or wouldn't tell her anything about it, just shrugged it off and said that Edward was a prick for not giving it a shot. Another one of Alice's favourite sayings was he has to come around to her eventually; he can't keep hating her forever. Bella wondered exactly how long Edward could keep hating Bracken for exactly; an eternal creature could probably hate someone for a very long time if you think about it. Bella would have to think of some way to change it.

"You always walk so stiffly Bracken" Alice said as the three of them walked along the school corridors, Bracken blushed and shrugged "yeah, it's a force of habit. See, I come from a very aristocratic family. As a general rule we are taught to talk correctly, walk correctly, even dress correctly". Bella looked at Bracken in surprise "dress correctly? You mean your family control how you dress?" Bracken nodded "supposed to, when we have a formal occasion then I have to wear the correct attire. But being here I am aloud to wear more American clothes". Alice looked at Bracken in shock "wow, if someone controlled what I wear then I'd probably die"; Bracken shrugged again "it's all I've ever known, so I can't really miss having my own choice. I guess our ways are very different". "Have you been in America long Bracken?" Bella asked, suddenly realising that Bracken has a perfect American accent for someone who has lived in another country. Bracken shook her head "not too long, we lived in Buffalo New York a while back. But that was years ago. I'm just really good at changing my accent". They all stopped outside Bella's class and said good bye to her, Alice and Bracken walked off to their next class together, continuing their discussion as they went.

"You having fun with your new pet?" Edward asked as Alice walked into the house, Alice ignored him as she walked past, Edward followed her into the living room "you going to buy her a lead and collar set?". Alice turned on Edward "just because Bracken is a werewolf doesn't mean she's my pet dog"; Edward huffed as everyone walked into the room to watch the approaching argument. "just shut the hell up Edward, if you got to know Bracken, you'd find out she's amazing" Alice said, Esme looked at Jasper who just shook his head, Carlisle stepped in "you two should not be arguing like this, your family". Edward shrugged "tell Alice to stop hanging out with the puppy", Carlisle shook his head "you know I can't do that Edward, I've already told Alice she can talk to Bracken. I'm not about to take that back". "Then maybe we should all get rabies shots, pet dogs have been known to turn on their owners" Edward said as he walked off to his room, Alice sighed and sat on the sofa and turned the T.V to some fashion channel. "I'm sorry sweetheart, I really am. I know how close you are getting to this Bracken" Esme said as she sat next to Alice, Alice cuddled up to Esme "she's really cool Esme and Bella's really close to her too. She can't be all that bad". Esme started stroking Alice's hair to soothe her "Edward will come around eventually, why don't you and Jasper go out tonight, stay in a hotel or something".

Alice picked up the phone and dialled a number "hey Bella, have you got a copy of Bracken's CD?", "yeah I have, why?" Bella asked as she sat at her desk. Alice smiled as Jasper walked into the room "Because I have a plan to get Edward to come around"; Jasper shook his head and waited for the two girls to finish planning. Finally Alice hung the phone up and looked up at Jasper "What?", "your meddling Alice, just leave Edward to come around in his own time" Jasper said as he picked up Alice's coat. "What? And let him carry on giving me a hard time for being her friend?"Alice said as she slipped her coat on, Jasper sighed "we're fighting against an age old prejudice, it's just harder for Edward to fight than the rest of us...... at least you don't have to deal with Rosalie". Alice laughed as she followed him out of the room. "You love to cause arguments don't you?" Jasper said as they walked downstairs, "what can I say, I'm a very passionate creature" Alice laughed.

**Two days later.....**

Bella, Alice, Jasper and Edward were walking through Forks when Bella stopped, "Alice look" Bella said as she pointed across the street. Everyone looked over and saw Bracken arguing with a taller well built man, two equally tall but not as well built men stood behind him watching. They looked to be having a very heated argument that Bella couldn't hear, although she was sure the others could. Bella looked at Alice who was watching with worry, and Edward who was watching with a sick fascination. Bracken tried to walk away but was stopped by the man who grabbed the back of her jacket, Bracken twisted in his grasp and wriggled out of her jacket. The man grabbed her arm and pulled her back, he looked like he was about to hit her when one of the other two men put his hand on his shoulder and said something to him. The three men climbed into the front cab of the Dodge pick-up truck, Bracken put her jacket back on and climbed into the back. Bella watched as the truck pulled off, she looked to Alice who just shrugged.

Later that night Alice and Bella dragged the boys out to a club in Port Angeles, just as they got there a band was setting up on stage. They made their way to the front to get a better view and as the band started Edward was surprised to see the lead guitarist was Bracken, Edward was about the leave when Alice grabbed his arm and whispered "stay, you're only going to hurt Bella if you leave". The lead singer was a beautiful girl with shoulder length blonde hair with red streaks in it; she was wearing a white blouse with the sleeves ripped off and a plaid skirt that was so short it looked more like a belt than a skirt. Bracken was wearing a white shirt with the sleeves ripped off and lots of badges over it, a pair of very baggy jeans and her hair was still its messy style. They each took turns to sing and each voice complimented the other perfectly, Bella and Alice danced along to the music and Bracken smiled to see her two best friends in the front row appreciating her music. Bracken nodded at the two of them and they waved back, Bracken noticed Edward and she froze as he glared at her.

**Later that night.....**

"Are you sure Sandy?" Callum McCanse asked as he paced around his desk, Sandy nodded "I have seen it with my own eyes father; she is friends with a human". "Well then, we must teach Bracken a lesion" Callum said as he sat in his chair, "what do you have planned father?" Romulus asked. "You said she goes to a house in the woods most nights?" Callum asked, "Yes, we have been following her since we first suspected" Romulus said. "Well then boys, you will have to ensure she is in the right place when you take Bracken hunting. Can you ensure that my sons?" Callum asked, "Yes father, we can. I promise you" Sandy replied eagerly. Callum nodded "very good my sons, you know exactly what to do", the three sons nodded and Callum spoke "you may leave, I have letters to write. As they left Sandy grabbed Remus and pushed him against the wall "you were quiet in there Remus, got nothing to say?" Remus shook his head "everything's been planned". "Yeah, well don't try to stop it from happening, the runt brought it on herself" Sandy said as he shoved his brother once more before walking off. Romulus shook his head at his twin "choose your side carefully brother, father will not hesitate in teaching you a lesion as well", as Romulus walked off Remus muttered "sometimes father can be wrong".

**A/N2: well if that isn't just the biggest cliff hanger ever, what has the evil werewolves got planned for Bella. What has Bracken exactly brought on herself? Sorry it took so long to post, the end of the year hasn't exactly been a lucky one for me. Hopefully my posts will be quicker.**


	6. this place has turned into a kennel

**A/N: yet again I own nothing accept Bracken and her family....... I do wish I own Alice though, that'd be cool. She's so damn hot, anyway, own with the story......**

Chapter 5: this place has turned into a kennel

For the past two weeks Bella felt like someone was following her, a feeling of eyes on her that she couldn't shake. Finally Bella decided to go see the Cullen's to talk about it, even though she felt like such a human for feeling like it. Bella climbed into her truck and headed off down the road, still feeling like someone was watching her. What if it was something bad? What if it was Victoria and Laurent? Bella knew she was probably worrying over nothing, but they hadn't been seen since the attack at the end of the year. Bella had to stop thinking so much about the what if's, she was starting to feel a panic attack coming on. The road to the Cullen's seemed longer the more she thought about the possible dangers, she pressed down on the gas pedal in an effort to speed up. About a minute after speeding up the truck sputtered and started slowing down, "aw come on!" Bella moaned as the car rolled to a stop "I can't be out of gas yet!". Bella looked at her surroundings and sighed "if I stay here and a vampire is after me then I'll be a tasty snack in a can. I better get moving", Bella got out of the truck and started walking to the house.

Bracken and her brothers jogged through the woods, Bracken trailed behind her brothers and kept her head down in alert mode. _Keep your eyes open Bracken _Remus thought as they moved silently, Bracken nodded and looked over at Sandy. Sandy halted and sniffed up, and evil grin appearing on his wolf face. Sandy broke out into a sprint, the others trailing behind him. _What's Sandy found! We were tracking deer the other way _Bracken thought frantically as the raced to an unknown target, no one answered her thoughts, no one wanted to. Sandy stopped in the distance and Bracken heard a gasp, she changed into human form as she ran. "mmmm.... I love the smell of fear in a human" Sandy growled as Bracken came to a stop, "Sandy stop!" Bracken shouted as she realised who it was Sandy had tracked. "ah runt, just in time to join in" Sandy said as he turned to face Bracken, Bracken moved over to Bella "no Sandy, this is Bella my friend". Sandy growled and crouched "humans are meat not friends!", Bracken crouched "humans are not meat Sandy! ". Bella took a step back, wondering if they'd know if she ran off. Probably would, but why were they talking about humans being meat? Bella guessed they weren't human themselves.

The two siblings looked like they were about to rip each other to pieces, while the other two were standing to the side watching with lazy interest. "It's about time you learned your place runt! Either help me kill the human or suffer along with her!" Sandy shouted as he backed up ready to transform. Bracken moved in front of Bella and crouched low to the ground "you'll have to kill me before you get to Bella Sandy" Bracken growled, Sandy snarled at Bracken "fine with me, you've been annoying me for a long time now". Bracken looked over her shoulder at Bella "Bella run!", both Bracken and Sandy charged at each other and transformed mid sprint. The two wolves crashed into each other and started biting and clawing at each other as Bella stumbled backwards. She ran as fast as she could to the Cullen house, the only safe place she knew in the entire woods. Not stopping until she reached the front door, she banged on the door so hard she thought her hand would break.

Edward and Alice rushed to the front door and threw it open as Bella charged through the door and into Edward's arms. "Quick.... help...... Bracken........ werewolf!" Bella panted into Edwards's chest, Edward looked over at Alice, "Bella, we know" Alice said softly. "but they're killing her!" Bella exclaimed as the other Cullen's appeared "you have to help her!", Carlisle looked at Bella with concern as Emmett and Rosalie appeared behind him, Having arrived home from Africa for a visit "who are killing her Bella? How do you know this?". Bella was getting impatient with everyone and just wanted Bracken safe "because she saved me! She fought her brother to give me time to run away, Carlisle please help her!". Carlisle nodded and everyone ran into the woods with Bella showing the way on Edwards back, the run seemed like it was taking forever and Bella was watching everywhere to see if she could see them, or hear them. Finally Edward stopped and everyone gasped at the sight they saw in front of them, Bella hopped off Edwards back and slowly approached. Lying on the floor was a blood covered Bracken with her eyes closed, if it wasn't for her gasping for breath she would look dead.

Everyone except Carlisle and Edward kept back and held their breath, Carlisle looked at Edward and nodded "Emmett" he said over his shoulder "carry Bracken please, Edward carry Bella. Alice and Esme sort out somewhere in the house for Bracken to lie. We need to be quick everyone, there's no time". Everyone rushed off to do their jobs, Emmett carrying Bracken as if she weighed nothing at all. Bella spent the entire time praying to god that Bracken will be ok, Edward holding Bella close to him. They rushed upstairs and into Alice's room, Alice and Esme were waiting for them. Emmett layed Bracken on the bed and stood back as Carlisle went to work on her, Alice and Bella stayed to lend a hand while everyone left the room. Esme went to find some clothes for Bracken to wear after, Edward and Jasper went to the living room to watch T.V and Rosalie and Emmett went to wait outside. Carlisle cut Brackens blood soaked clothes off her and Bella removed the clothes so they wouldn't affect anyone. Alice gasped at how many wounds exactly covered the young wolf's body, more than she could count she thought to herself. Carlisle went to work cleaning each wound and stitching each up carefully, making sure there was no internal bleeding as he went.

Finally, after over six hours of careful cleaning, examining, and stitching, Carlisle was done. He stood up and Esme moved in, dressing Bracken in an old pair of Emmett's jogging bottoms and T-shirt. Carlisle looked at everyone in the room "now all we can do is wait for her to wake up", Bella sat down on a chair "if it's ok I'd like to wait here, Bracken saved me and now I want to do the same for her". Alice nodded and sat on the end of the bed "same here, I'll keep Bella company while she waits". Carlisle nodded "very well, you can tell us when she wakes up", everyone left Bella and Alice alone. After what seemed like forever Bracken began to stir, Alice called out to everyone. Bracken slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room, suddenly her eyes opened in shock and she gasped, fear etched on her face. "relax Bracken, this is my family we won't hurt you. Your safe here" Alice said soothingly, "but.... but..... you're all vampires" Bracken whispered to Alice, not taking her eyes off the rest of the family. Carlisle stepped forward and smiled at Bracken reassuringly "I assure you Bracken, no one here will harm you. You are very safe now", "Bracken, this is Carlisle my father. He healed you" Alice said.

"Bracken, feel free to stay here as long as you need to. You saved Bella's life, we owe it to you to help you recover" Esme said as she stepped forward with a loving motherly smile that made Bracken relax slightly. Bracken's eye drooped slowly and she let out a small moan of pain through slightly clenched teeth, Bella sat on the side of Bracken's bed and lent down to hug her gently "you saved me Bracken, thank you so much". Bracken lifted her right arm slightly and hugged Bella with it as best as she could "I couldn't let Sandy kill you, your my best friend", Bracken looked at Alice and smiled "one of them" Alice smiled back. "are you in a lot of pain Bracken, I could try you with some morphine" Carlisle asked, Bracken shook her head "it's ok Doctor Cullen, believe it or not I've gone through worse pain than this". "well, you have a long recovery ahead of you. You need to rest for tonight and tomorrow we can all talk some more" Carlisle said in a soft but authorative voice, Esme agreed and ushered her 'children' out of the room. Alice and Bella stayed behind to keep Bracken company until she fell asleep.

Once the door closed Bella turned to Bracken "how come you never said you're a werewolf?", Bracken shrugged and winced from the pain "your friends with vampires, I was afraid to tell you". Bella looked a little shocked "you thought I would hurt you?", Bracken looked at Alice "I thought they would hurt me, I was surprised that they didn't tell you themselves". "It was not our place to say Bracken, it's your secret to tell" Alice said calmly, Bracken looked Alice in the eyes and saw that she ment what she said. Bracken nodded slightly "maybe if I had told you more then you could have been better protected. I should have been more trusting", "why did Sandy come after me anyway?" Bella asked. Bracken looked thoughtful for a second "it could not simply be wrong place at the wrong time, that would be too much of a coincidence. No, I think Sandy may have known you were there", Bella and Alice listened to Bracken as she tried to decipher the string of incidents leading to tonight's climax. "Bella, why were you in the woods to begin with?" Bracken asked "surely you can guess that vampires are not the most dangerous things in the woods". Bella nodded "yeah I knew that, my truck broke down for some reason. It shouldn't have, it was only just serviced. My phone wasn't working and I knew it was only a ten minute or so walk to here, so I decided to get out and walk quickly".

"Do you think Sandy was planning something?" Alice asked, Bracken thought for a second "no, I'm not sure. Sandy's not exactly the brains of the outfit and this doesn't smell of the twins. I'm gonna have to think about this one some more". Bracken's eyes drooped uncontrollably and Bella stood up "well we can talk about this tomorrow, sleep Bracken", Alice nodded and followed Bella out of the room. The two walked downstairs where everyone were waiting, arguing in hushed voices, "we come back and already this place has turned into a kennel" Rosalie muttered. "Bracken saved Bella, we will not turn our back on her" Esme replied, "Is everyone going to start taking her for walks now? Will she become the family pet or is she Alice's?" Rosalie asked in anger. Alice walked ahead of Bella and looked at everyone furiously "why the hell is everyone arguing?!?!?! Can't you see rose that Bracken is definitely no threat to any of us? She put herself in danger for Bella". Rose turned on Alice "and how do you know it's not a plan? Edward can't read her mind, Jasper can't get a reading either and you can't see any future that has her in it!", "fucking hell Rose, Bracken's own brother tried to kill Bracken. Carlisle had to work for over six hours just to patch her up and now Bracken is so week she can only keep her eyes open for a few minutes" Alice said with a sigh as she sat one of the sofas. She was too tired to argue anymore and was ready to give up.

"I think I need to do some research into all this, Bracken should be healing by now. She's made no kind of recovery at all, and maybe we can work out what the hell happened tonight" Carlisle said as he tried to distract everyone with a plan. "Bracken thinks it might have been planned, she said it doesn't feel like a coincidence to her" Bella suggested "My truck is broken down further back along the road". Edward nodded "I know, Emmett went to get it. It's in the garage, there is something wrong with it", Bella nodded "what is it?". Edward didn't look up "the fuel pip has been cut almost clean though, designed to give you a gradual loss of fuel but not quick enough for you to notice until it was too late". "Something tells me that this might have been planned" Edward said, and just as Rosalie was about to jump up and shout ha, Carlisle joined in "but I don't think Bracken is in on it, there is nothing that says a werewolf will risk it's life for the sake of killing one human"

**A/N2: ok so it's getting a little more interesting now. Bella now knows Bracken's a wolf, Bracken has now been brought to the Cullen house and told to stay as long as she needs and Bracken as well as Doctor have both worked out that this must be a plan...... but by who and for what? That and many more questions will be answered probably in the next chapter. The chapters are getting a little longer now and the action will pick up more of a speed as it goes along. Do you think Rosalie will ever accept Bracken being here? And why is Edward not joining her in her fury? Hope everyone has enjoyed reading this chapter and LEAVE A REVIEW!!!!!!! lol **


	7. Some wolves are better off dead

_**A/N: **_**in this chapter, thoughts are in italic, where as letters and written messages are in bold italic. There's a lot of thoughts and a letter or two in the next few chapters so I figured I'd tell you now. Ok so the plan's revealed and Bracken bonds with the family some more.......**

Chapter six: Some wolves are better off dead....... and some are not

"Good work Sandy" Callum McCanse said as he paced the room "now, are you sure that Bracken is dead?" Sandy nodded and smiled "yes father, there was no way she'd survive. She was too weak to go anywhere and the human won't have got far, not like she'd have got help for Bracken anyway". Callum let out a deep laugh; he paced back to his desk and sat down on the large mahogany chair. Romulus and Sandy laughed along with their father while Remus looked at the portraits on the walls; he noticed that there were plenty of him and his brothers, but not one single portrait of Bracken. It was no family secret that Callum McCanse hated his only daughter, but Remus would have thought that he would have had at least one portrait of her. _You're better off wherever you are Bracken...... even if you are indeed dead _Remus thought to him as he joined in with a laugh of his own; no one even noticed that Remus' laugh was a false laugh. He had become an expert in laughing when he did not find the subject at all funny, it just prevented him meeting the same fate as his poor sister.

Anastasia McCanse held her youngest son as he cried loudly into her chest; she felt a few tears of her own trickle down her cheeks and held the child even tighter. "Why mama? Why?" Cubby wailed, "I wish I knew my little one, I truly do" Anastasia replied softly "but at least we can be sure that whatever has happened to Bracken we know she is no longer suffering". Cubby nodded and sniffed "I hate him mama, I will always hate him. He took my sister away from me and I'll never forgive him" Cubby whispered, Anastasia nodded "me too, but we must never let on how we feel. We must pretend that we don't hate him, or we will suffer like Bracken did". Anastasia's accent was even stronger now and Cubby knew it was down to her grief, he knew that his mother's heart was broken into as many pieces as his were. Anastasia laid her son back on his bed and pulled the blanket over him "you should sleep now my son, rest and dream of all the good times you had with your sister", Cubby yawned and nodded as his mother kissed his head. Anastasia watched as her son closed his eyes and quickly fell into a deep sleep, she then left the room to tend to her murderous husband and sons.

**2 months later.....**

Bracken moaned in pain and Alice gasped "are you ok Bracken? We can stop if you want", Bracken shook her head "no" Bracken said in a strangled voice "it has to be hard if I'm gonna get better, just not used to using my legs is all". Alice nodded, tightened her grip on Bracken's arms and carried on guiding her forward. They made it from Alice's bed to the far wall and back again, the second they made it back to the bed again, Bracken collapsed on it panting and moaning. Alice helped her back to a laying position and then stood up straight "you rest for a while, I'm going to see what's happened to your dinner. You really need the protein for your strength". Bracken laughed at Alice's authorative tone and watched as she left the room, Bracken rested her head back on the pillow and waited. Alice rushed downstairs and into the kitchen where Esme was preparing Bracken's meal, Alice looked over her shoulder "is it done yet? Bracken really needs feeding". Esme nodded and handed the bowl to Alice "here you go, fourth meal all prepared", Carlisle walked into the room and smiled at his daughter "you're spending a lot of time with Bracken Alice". Alice nodded "physio takes a long time Carlisle", Carlisle nodded "you'll have her up and walking around in no time". Alice nodded and looked down "Bracken's not getting better though, should she have healed a few days after the attack?", Carlisle realised what his daughter was getting at and put a hand on her shoulder "I'm using the lab at the hospital to do blood tests in my break, I'll figure out what's wrong with her". Alice nodded and went off to give Bracken her meal, Carlisle looked to Esme and sighed "you think she's falling for Bracken as well don't you?" Esme nodded and Carlisle sighed once more as he walked out of the house to his car.

Alice folded clothes that Emmett had donated to Bracken and put them in two draws she cleared for Bracken, Bracken slowly ate her meat stew as she watched the vamp move quickly around the room. Once Bracken finished she placed the bowl on the bedside table and smiled as Alice picked it up and rushed it downstairs before returning to the room, "you should have a white hat with a red cross on it" Bracken said with a slight laugh. Alice looked in confusion for a second then her mouth broke out into a huge grin "and a nurses uniform, yeah ok Bracken", Bracken laughed and started coughing just as Bella walked into the room followed by Jasper. Jasper kissed Alice and smiled at Bracken "would you like to go for a meal and stay at a hotel Alice?" Alice shook her head "I can't, I need to look after Bracken". "I can look after Bracks, I'll stay here over night and miss a day off school" Bella said with a smile at Jasper, Bracken sensed there was a plan and smiled "of course Bells" Bracken nodded.

For the rest of the night Bella was Bracken's nurse maid and Emmett became Bracken's crutches, Emmett had helped Bracken downstairs so she could play Tekken with him. Bella sat with Esme and watched the two of them sat in front of the sofa, Emmett was shouting swears at the screen while Bracken was taunting him with a smug expression. Bella laughed and Esme smiled "Bracken has fitted in nicely hasn't she" Bella said, Esme smiled "another child for Carlisle and myself, she's fitted in perfectly". "It's good to get Alice out of the house for one night, she was getting to close to Bracken" Bella pushed, Esme nodded "Carlisle sees it as well; Alice might be falling for Bracken". Bella nodded "it'd kill Jasper", Esme looked thoughtful for a second "I think he'd be able to deal with it, he is a very resilient young man. And he loves Alice dearly, he would adjust for her". Bella nodded and decided to focus on looking after Bracken like she promised Alice, although Bracken looked like she was fine without her.

The next day the two returned home and Alice couldn't get to Bracken quick enough, she rushed to the bedroom to find Bella sat in a chair in the corner of the room doing homework and Bracken was fast asleep. Alice smiled at Bracken and Bella looked up, "Bracken's been asleep for hours now, we did a bit of physio but Bracken was in so much pain we stopped and she passed out" Bella whispered. Alice moved over to the bed and sat down gently on the edge, she brushed a strand out of Bracken's eyes and smiled warmly "rest well sleepy head" she whispered and went to stand next to Bella. Bella put her book down and looked up at Alice "your really close to Bracken Alice", Alice looked at Bella in confusion "do you have a point Bella?". Bella shrugged and wondered how she could say it without angering the vampire "well, you don't spend time with anyone else. We had to persuade you to go out with Jasper last night". "no one else pays Bracken much attention Bella, she gets so crazy cooped up here on her own and no one visits her or spends time with her" Alice argued, Bella shook her head "you don't give anyone the chance, Esme would love to look after Bracken and Emmett would spend time with her. But you're always around".

Alice sighed and looked out of the large window at the woods behind the house "promise not to tell anyone?", Bella nodded and Alice carried on "I think I'm starting to feel something for Bracken, I don't know why but I find that I go nuts if I'm not around her. That I can only think of Bracken and I don't want to be around anyone else. Even Jasper and I'm supposed to love him". Bella sighed and went to stand behind Alice "I think you need to let other's look after Bracken more, you're getting too close and I think you need a break", Alice shook her head "not something I could do, I have to keep helping Bracken get back on her feet". Bella sighed and went out of the room in search of Edward; Alice went to sit on the bed and watched Bracken sleep for a while. She pushed some hair out of Bracken's eyes again and sighed, she was definitely feeling something for Bracken. She just wasn't sure what. Later that day as they were going though more physio, Bracken struggled in Alice's arms. The pair fell backwards as Bracken collapsed on the bed, as they fell they're lips crashed together and they stayed like that for a minute, kissing. They pulled apart quickly and Bracken blushed, "I'm sorry" Bracken said. Alice smiled "I'm not, I liked it" Bracken managed to sit up and looked at Alice in surprise; she saw that Alice was smiling and smiled back.

"What about Jasper? He'll be crushed" Bracken said, Alice shrugged "I have to be happy, this is the only way to do it". Bracken nodded and laid back on the bed "are you going to tell him?" Alice looked at Bracken "what exactly is there to tell?". Bracken stated into Alice's eye's and smiled "that your my girlfriend and I love you very much", Alice smiled back "and I love you too. I better go and tell him". Alice gave Bracken a kiss and left to go find Jasper.

_**A/N2: ok, I wasn't planning on revealing their attraction so soon and in this way, but I realised I'm on chapter six already and decided to speed things up a bit. It's only Bracken in bed, and who wants to see that anyway? So I did a bit of editing and this chapter is kind of a director's cut. Next chapter is Alice telling Jasper mainly, stories from Bracken's home land and a few other things that I can't decide whether to put them in now or later. And as usual......... LEAVE A REVIEW!!!!!! I only have like one, even if it's to say you like it, or you don't like it. Well laterz peeps!**_


	8. Love lost

_**A/N: OK, usual thing. I own nothing to do with twilight, I borrow Alice on weekends. Stephanie and I have joint custody over her. Well anyway, jasper finds out about Alice and Bracken, stories from Bracken's past and other stuff. This chapter is kind of writing it's self, and sorry if I don't post very often but I'm also working on my novel and so I'm trying to juggle my time between the two. Anyway, enjoy.....**_

Chapter seven: Love lost

Alice walked into Jasper's room, she knew how this was going to turn out and that comforted her slightly. Jasper looked up from his book and smiled "what do you want my love?", Alice sighed "I need to talk to you Jas, and I need you to listen until I'm finished". Jasper nodded and put the book on the table to give Alice his full attention, Alice moved over to him and sat and another chair facing him "something has happened between Bracken and myself, through spending so much time together we have both developed....... feelings for each other". Alice looked at Jasper to judge his reaction, he looked calm so she carried on "the one thing I never wanted was to hurt you, which is why I'm telling you this. I want to be honest with you, but Bracken and I feel so strongly towards each other and maybe even love each other". Jasper looked at Alice and could feel she was sorry, he could feel her nervousness and above all he could feel the love she was talking about when she mentioned Bracken. "Alice, I know. To be honest I think I've always known but never wanted to admit it. But I can see now that my attempts to keep you with me were wrong and I should just give you my blessing and stand to the side. So I will" Jasper said with a pained tone in his voice that he couldn't mask. Alice went over to him and hugged him "please don't tell anyone Jas, we're trying to work things out ourselves. I want you to know I do still love you but as a brother now".

Jasper nodded and returned the hug "I know, and I love you like a sister Alice. I won't tell anyone about this, It's not my news to tell. And just so you know, whatever happens in all this. I'll always support you and be there for you, I love you too much to lose you completely". If Alice could have cried she would have in that moment, Alice nodded and left Jasper to his thoughts, knowing that he was hiding his true emotions and needed to let them out in private. Alice walked into the room and Bracken smiled "he was cool about it" Bracken said, Alice nodded "it's gonna be so annoying having two people in my head" she joked as she moved to the bed and sat on the edge of it. "He wasn't too happy bout it but he's gonna deal with it for your sake" Bracken clarified for her, Alice nodded "plus he promised not to tell anyone about it so we have time to figure things out for ourselves". Bracken lent back on the pillows and sighed "how will everyone else take it?", Alice watched Bracken worry and shrugged "I don't know, we haven't made our minds up to tell them all yet". Bracken's eyes fluttered closed and she slipped into a deep sleep, Alice moved to the chair in the corner of the room and opened a book.

"So, what's Russia like?"Alice asked, Bracken smiled "cold, very cold". Alice smacked Bracken on the arm lightly "be serious Bracken",

"I am serious, it's seriously could there"

"I was talking about Russia in general, what's it like as a place?"

"well I lived in Siberia, middle of nowhere"

"kinda like here then"

Bracken nodded and prepared to tell Alice all about her first home "I went to Moscow quite a lot, I have an uncle and aunt there. They have kids now so I have cousin's there as well, but I grew up out of civilisation. Siberia is extremely cold, and constantly snow covered. We were never bothered as no one would cross the frozen planes, it was peaceful most of the time". Alice listened to Bracken and noticed that her accent was changing slowly to a Russian one, Bracken carried on "I was born 180 years ago, My brothers are all a lot older than I am and I was considered the runt of the pack, we lived in a large mansion but other pack members all had houses near to us. We had our own little community and no one even noticed we existed, my immediate family and close relatives lived in the mansion. One of my uncles on my fathers side with his children and mate, my Grand papa and my uncle on my mothers side lived with us also as did a close friend of my father with his mate and child"

"We lived there until I was 10 werewolf years, 100 human years. There was an attack on the house, the Russian Army noticed strange things about the little village and the government decided to destroy us without finding out who or what we really were. I missed my home I never wanted to leave, but we knew we had to go or the Army would get us. So we fled in different directions we split up but kept in contact in case anyone of us needed the others. We travelled across Europe, through Italy, Spain, Germany, Bulgaria, Belgium, France, Amsterdam and Great Britain. Once there we moved over here to America where we travelled across this country until we reached here, we have never been able to stay in anyone place longer than two or three years. But now that I am no longer part of that family, when I get better I will not have to worry about anyone blowing my cover" Bracken finished. Alice looked thoughtful for a second "or.... you could live here with us", Bracken look at Alice and searched her eyes. Seeing that Alice was being honest she replied "If the rest of your family accept it then yes I will stay".

**Two weeks later......**

Alice loved hearing stories of Bracken's adventures in Russia, hunting the Arctic animals and playing in 3 foot snow in wolf form. The stories about her mother and grandfather and learning about music and art from them, the balls they held every year in the mansion. The Adventures Bracken had while crossing Europe and all the mythical creatures they found along the way. Alice would sit on the bed every night, enthralled by Bracken's stories right up until Bracken fell asleep. Alice found herself falling more and more for the young wolf and realised that she didn't really care, although they felt they should still keep it a secret from the family. Alice spent more time in school and brought Bracken homework back so she could continue her studies and hopefully graduate with the rest of the class. Everyone else started spending more time with Bracken, except Rosalie and Edward, Rosalie and Emmett went back to Africa with a promise from Emmett to return and kick Bracken's ass in Tekken. Esme spent the daytime caring for Bracken, Making her meals and helping her with physiotherapy, Carlisle spent time in between work and research helping Bracken as well. Bella came by as much to see Bracken now as she did to see Edward, something that bothered Edward greatly.

"Just a few more steps and I'll carry you back to the bed" Alice encouraged as Bracken slowly stepped across the room, Bracken moaned in pain as she moved "but it hurts".

"It has to hurt to work, means your leg muscles are working"

"No I mean it really hurts, I need to rest"

"Don't be a baby, I thought you were a big bad wolf"

"I'm a big wolf in a great deal of pain"

Alice sighed and gave in to Bracken, they turned around and made it back to the bed. Bracken collapsed on it and moaned, they had just done 5 lengths of the room and Bracken was exhausted by it. Alice watched Bracken with worry "you should be healing by now, but your just as bad if not slightly worse", Bracken lifted her head "I know, I don't know what to say". Alice helped Bracken sit up on the bed "I should go get you something to eat, you need to build your strength back up. Wait there", Bracken nodded as Alice walked out of the room, Bracken knew exactly what Alice was up to but kept her mouth shut anyway.

Alice needed answers and she needed them fast, she headed to the smartest person she knew. "Come in" came the voice on the other side of the door, "Carlisle, I need your help" Alice said as she walked in. Carlisle nodded and watched as Alice paced frantically "why isn't Bracken getting better? She's doing physio everyday, eating lot's of meat". Carlisle thought for a few seconds "I've been looking into this, the blood tests show nothing unusual as far as I can tell. Mind you though, Bracken's blood is something that I have not had the fortune of coming across before, this is all speculation. I simply do not understand why she is not getting better". Alice sighed and nodded "thank you Carlisle", Carlisle watched as Alice walked out of the room and went back to studying Bracken's test results. Alice's phone rang as she walked into the kitchen, she answered the phone knowing who it was before she answered "hey Emmett", "how's my favourite little wolf doing? Any better?" Emmett asked. Alice shook her head "nope, I don't know why Em",

"she'll get better eventually Alice"

"I don't know about that Emmett"

"I do, your doing a great job looking after her"

"I know something is up Emmett, I just don't know what"

Alice hung up and grabbed some meat stew, heating it up on the stove, she grabbed some bread to go with it. Bracken ate slowly as Alice tidied the room around her, Alice kept glancing at Bracken to see if she was still eating. Bracken finished and looked up at Alice "come sit with me", Alice moved over to the bed and sat in front of her. Bracken placed her left hand on Alice's cheek "I'll be OK my love, you don't need to worry so much", Alice placed her hand over Bracken's and held it there. Breathing deeply Alice sighed "I worry because I love you so much, I want you to get better, Bracken looked down "I know, I am sorry. I never wanted this". Alice looked Bracken in worry "want what? Us?", Bracken shook her head and looked deep into Alice's eyes "Of course now, Alice this between us is the best thing that has ever happened to me. For the first time I truly feel alive". Bracken lent in and kissed Alice softly, Alice deepened the kiss, placing her hands on the sides of Bracken's face and holding her tightly.

Edward walked into the room and stopped dead in his tracks, Bracken and Alice pulled apart quickly. "What the fuck!" Edward shouted as he stood there shocked, "Edward" Alice said in shock. Edward shook his head and stormed out of the room just as Bella walked in, Alice walked after Edward "stay with Bracken Bella". Bella looked at Bracken who just shook her head, "not good then" Bella said as she walked over to the bed. "I can't believe this Alice, your with Jasper" Edward said angrily as he stormed downstairs into the living room, "Not any more Edward and it has nothing to do with you" Alice answered back. Edward turned on Alice "If it affects the family it's all of our business", Alice felt the anger rising inside her about to erupt "Edward, my life is my life and no one else's" she spoke in a deadly quiet voice. "It's wrong Alice!" Edward yelled throwing his hands in the air, Alice crossed her arms "why exactly is it wrong Edward? Because Bracken is a wolf? Or is it because Bracken is a girl?". "Both" Edward replied, Alice looked like she was about to attack Edward, something everyone was worried about. "Edward, son, you need to calm down" Carlisle said in his usual calming voice, "Alice is right, it is her business and no one else's" Esme joined in with the attempt to solve the argument. "What about Jasper, doesn't anyone care about how he feels? Alice has stomped over his heart!" Edward exclaimed angrily, "actually, Edward, I know about them and I'm fine with it" Jasper said quietly.

Edward looked at Jasper in shock as Jasper carried on "they love each other Edward, I could have forced her to stay with me, but who am I to do that?". "You knew? And your OK with it?" Edward asked in shock, Jasper smiled a pained smile "I just want Alice to be happy, even if it's not with me". Edward turned back on Alice with pure anger in his eyes "HOW COULD YOU ALICE! IT'S JUST WRONG YOUR GOING AGAINST EVERYTHING WE ARE AND KNOW!" his shout was like a roar. "Stop this Edward" came Bracken's voice from the top of the stairs, everyone turned and saw Bella helping Bracken downstairs. Alice looked at Bracken with worry "Bracken, what are you doing? Go back to bed", Bracken shook her head "no Alice, I won't let you go through this alone". Edward scoffed and glared at Bracken "oh look, it's the guard dog", "Edward, I know you may not agree with our relationship. but Alice is still your sister, isn't her happiness still important to you?" Bracken said. Edward just stared at Bracken as she carried on "we never planned any of this, we started out just as friends. But, as time went on and Alice spent more time with me than anyone else here, we grew closer. But hurting anyone was the last thing we wanted, I love her Edward". "Edward, they love each other. It wasn't that long ago that people didn't like us being together" Bella said, Edward knew he was outnumbered, everyone seamed to support them.

"You don't know what Alice has given me" Bracken said so quietly that Bella could hardly hear, Edward looked at Bracken in confusion as did everyone else. Bracken looked at Alice with a week smile "for the first time in my life I have felt love, and been able to love back. For the first time in my life I've been given hope, something I never thought I'd experience". Bracken sighed and looked to Carlisle who nodded, knowing exactly what Bracken had to say. Bracken looked back at Alice and looked deep into her eyes "I need to be honest about something, there's something I've been hiding from you and I'm sorry about it. But first I need to sit down". Alice helped Bracken sit on the sofa and Bracken started "OK, when I moved to Forks, it was only to finish high school. One last human experience......before I die", Alice's eyes went wide with shock "what?". Bracken breathed deeply "I have what we call the curse, but it's really a genetic disorder. It means I heal at normal human rate and I'm a lot smaller than other wolves, I wasn't expected to live past 200. The attack on me has reduced that time significantly, I only have a few weeks now. Alice I'm so sorry for not telling you, I never thought I'd fall in love here".

Alice shook her head "there has to be something we can do, has to be a cure somewhere. We'll find it", Bracken looked down "there is one. But I'm not telling you", Alice grabbed Bracken's face and pulled it up to meet her eyes "Bracken, I can't lose you now. I've only just found you, please tell me what it is". Bracken turned her face away "no, it's too horrible. It's not something I could ask you to do", Alice grabbed Bracken's shoulders "whatever it is, I'll do it. I'll do anything for you please tell me". Bracken sighed "you have to turn me. Bite me and infect me with your venom", "how the fuck will that help" Edward scoffed. Bracken looked up at Edward "it'll make me a werevamp, a cross between a vampire and a werewolf" she looked at Alice "but it's not easy, I've only saw it once. My uncle got turned and he was rolling on the floor, he started tearing at his chest to dig out his own heart. Callum had to kill him. It was horrible". Alice looked deep into Brackens eyes and whispered "I'll do it. I'll turn you".

**A/N": OK so I know it's been ages since this update. But I've had so much on at the moment. Well next chapter will be about Bracken being turned, it'll be an intense chapter. Hope you all enjoy it**


	9. Authors note2

Authors note 2:

Okies all you wonderful readers! Got some not so great news for you all...not gonna be posting anymore chapters till October. My comp broke and I was gonna get it fixed but cos I have a holiday to Greece to pay for I can't afford it till oct...but don't panic cos it'll only take me a few days to write the next chapter and I got loads of awesome ideas in my head. Plus I'm working on a novel while I'm not working on Bracken and Alice's story. Thanks for the reviews and love you all so much...your awesome...KEEP REVIEWING PEEPS!


	10. Pheonix fire

**A/N: ok so i know i told you all that I wasn't gonna write again till October, but well i read the last chapter and decided to write this chapter anyway. It's not the same as i had already written but i hope it's still good anyway. Keep reviewing and thanks to those who have already...LOVE YOU ALL! As usual i own nothing of twilight...i'm not that lucky. So on with the chapter...**

**Chapter 8- The phoenix fire:**

Edward looked outraged "Alice, you can't be serious? This is wrong", Alice shook her head "no Edward this is right, Bracken needs my help and we have to be together". Edward frowned at Alice "I want no part of this", Carlisle walked up to his son and placed a hand on his shoulder "Edward, Alice is your sister and needs your help. You should help her", Edward looked around at everyone, seeing the looks in everyone's eyes. "I'll call Emmett and him and Rosealie come home tomorrow" Esme said as she rushed off, Alice and Jasper helped Bracken upstairs while Carlisle followed. Edward turned to Bella and shook his head "do you really agree with all this?", Bella nodded "yes Edward...how can you be so against it?. Edward watched as Bella walked off upstairs to join the others, Edward growled quietly and walked off outside to hunt.

Bracken lay on the bed slipping in and out of consciousness as everyone had stood around her, it took Emmett and Rosealie just over twelve hours to arrive in forks. Carlisle had spent that time getting everything ready, everyone had spent time prepareing mentally for the events that no one could tell and Alice spent the time sat at Bracken's bedside watching her love sleep for the last time one way or the other. No tears fell down her face but not because she was upset, but only because she could not cry. In the silence of the room Alice laid a soft kiss on Bracken's forehead, a small smile crept on the corner of her lips and her fingers twitched. Alice was sure she was going to wake up, but she realised that was just wishful thinking. "We're gonna be starting soon, your going to be fine" Alice looked around the now empty room and stood slowly, speaking to no one she spoke clearly "we're ready now". Everyone walked into the room, Edward stood to the back, not wanting to help but knowing he had to.

Carlisle looked to everyone as he issued his orders "OK everyone, we have to know exactly what we're all doing. I'll hold down Bracken's waist, Jasper holds her shoulders and Edward, you hold down her legs", looking to Emmett he added "Emmett, you stand by just incase Bracken throws anyone off. She'll be incredibly strong during the first stage". The girls all knew what they had to do and moved with Esme to stand around Alice, ready to comfort her as soon as it all started. The boys braced themselves as Alice moved forward and knelt next to Bracken's bedside, she laid a kiss on Brackens lips softly before moveing to her neck and with one lick of her lips, bit hard, drinking enough so that the venom flowed from her fangs and into Bracken's bloodstream. Knowing she'd drunk enough she pulled herself away and with shakey legs, stood up and stumbled back to allow the boys to move in to position.

Everyone braced themselves and waited for what seamed like forever, when finally, it started. Bracken's body went into fits, she tried to thrash about wildly as a strangled scream sounded from her. Alice and the girls watched in horror as the boys struggled to control her body, Bracken's arms threw Jasper off and her right arm moved to her chest, attempting to dig out her heart. Jasper got back up and quickly grabbed her arms, trying to pull them back to Bracken's side. Bracken's arms threw Edward across the room and kicked wildly trying to knock Carlisle off her. Before Carlisle could say anything, Emmett had rushed to her legs pinning them down and putting all his body weight on them managed to stop her bottom half moving too much. Edward pulled himself up and seeing jasper was in trouble, rushed to his side and held her arms down with him. The thrashing went on for a good ten minutes, Bracken's body trying desperately to rip out her heart while she screamed and howled. The whole time Alice had her head buried in Bella's shoulder while Rosealie and Esme held her as she screamed and cried along with Bracken.

Finally the screaming and thrashing calmed and stopped, everyone watched, none of the guys moveing for fear that she'd start up again. After a few minutes they moved slowly from her still body, Carlisle looked over Bracken and nodded "stage one over, now we wait". "wait for what?" Bella asked, Carlisle sighed "for her to finish changing, about three days". Everyone left the room silently as Alice took a seat next to Bracken's bed, Alice took her hand and watched as Bracken twitched and moaned quietly. Alice stayed in the chair, un-moving, suffering right along with her love as Bracken burned from the venom moving through her body. Two days passed but Alice never moved, never hunted, never drank the blood everyone brought to her. I Just sat and watched, as tears that would never fall built up around her eyes. All everyone could do was stand in the doorway and watch as Alice sat staring, no one had any idea on how to snap her out of the trance she had herself in.

Rosalie walked into the bedroom and stood behind Alice "come on Alice, we're off", Alice didn't even twitch as she spoke so quietly Bella wasn't even sure what she said "Where?". Rosalie sighed as she took Alice's hand and stood her up "Bracken is going to wake up in about a day with no clothes of her own, even though Emmett doesn't mind sharing, Bracken need her own wardrobe". Alice tried to pull her hand free and go back to the chair "I can't leave Bracken", Bella caught on to the idea and stepped forward "I can't believe Alice Cullen is turning down the chance to shop". Alice nodded and kissed Bracken on the forehead whispering "I'll be as soon as I can Bracken, please don't worry", Esme stood behind Alice and placed her hands on her shoulders "don't worry, I'll sit with her the whole time your gone". Alice, Rosalie and Bella walked to the garage and drove off in Rosalie's red convertable,

After hours of shopping, the three girls were weighed down by bags full of clothes, even though Alice had spent five hundred thousand on clothes her thought still went back to Bracken's suffering. They rushed home to find nothing had changed, Edward was still in a bad mood, Carlisle was still doing his doctor routine, Emmett and Jasper were still hanging around playing video games and Esme was still at Bracken's bedside. Esme watched as the three girls silently walked in and headed to Alice's walk in closet, clearing space and filling it with Bracken's new clothes. Once they were finished Alice took the seat Esme moved out of and went back to watching Bracken. Esme walked into the room with a glass of blood for Alice to drink. As soon as Alice finished the first thing she had drunk in three days Bracken started moaning, Esme smiled excitedly as she ushered Alice out of the room and shut the door. Alice walked downstairs feeling left out and worried, Bella spent the time reasureing Alice everything would be ok. Everyone filled the living room and waited excitedly for Bracken to wake up, not knowing what they were going to see.

Slowly Bracken opened her eyes, not realiseing where she was she bolted upright in the bed and looked around nervously. Esme sat on the edge of the bed and smiled "It's ok Bracken, your home, your family is waiting downstairs for you", Bracken thought for a second "how long have i been out?" the question was more to herself than anyone. "three days, now come on, Alice has picked out a special outfit for you to wear" Esme said as she helped Bracken up and led her to the walk in wardrobe. As Esme helped Bracken dress Bracken started coming to her senses "so...the change...went well", Esme nodded "very well. It was hard at first but time passed". Everyone look to the stairs as they heard footsteps and saw Esme leading Bracken down the stairs, no one could see Bracken's face. Everyone stood watching as Alice stepped forward and whispered "Bracken?", Bracken slowly lifted her head and a smile slowly crept onto her face as she nodded. Alice gasped and ran to her, throwing her arms around Bracken and kissing her passionately.

Everyone smiled and stood around Bracken, hugging her and welcoming her to the family. Carlisle cleared his throat and everyone stopped talking "Bracken, you are now faced with a choice. We would like to make you are latest foster child, if you want of course. If you say yes you can either keep your name or choose to take the Cullen". Bracken cut Carlisle off before he could say anymore "you know I don't have a family anymore, the time I've spent here has been wonderfull. I feel closer to you all than i have ever felt to anyone...I'd be honered to be a Cullen... to have you and Esme as my mother and father". Esme smiled and hugged Bracken tightly "and I Bracken would be honered to be your mother", Bracken smiled as everyone formally welcomed her to the family. Carlisle had rushed off to sort out the nessicary paperwork and everyone relaxed around the house talking and laughing. Alice cuddled up to Bracken and sighed, the family was happy with their new addition. Bracken had to suffer through intense suffering but from it she finally found her family. Nothing else could go wrong... could it?

**A/N: short but sweet, a little filler for you all to keep you entertained until i get back into regular posting. So now you know that Bracken is cured...but you all know that this isn't the end don't you. So what's gonna happen to the young werevamp now? Now click the button that says review...you know you want to**


	11. This is only the begining

_**A/N: ok, ok I know it's been ages since I posted, but I have had so much going on and it'd take forever to tell you. So...where were we?...oh yeah. Bracken told everyone her only cure was to be turned by a vampire and become a werevamp, Alice turned her and after 3 days in hell for her, Bracken awoke a brand new shiny werevamp. Now, what will happen next?**_

**Chapter Nine: This is only the beginning**

Everyone noticed the change in Bracken with happiness, Alice was the happiest of them all. Carlisle spent hours in the study filling nessicary paperwork, Esme fussed around the house cleaning. Emmett sat crossed legged in front of the T.V playing halo on his Xbox, without turning away from the screen he asked "What was it like, being turned?". Everyone looked shocked at Emmett's less than tactful question and blunt and casual way he'd asked, the transformation was definitely hard on Bracken and so everyone had made a silent promise to each other to leave the subject alone... everyone but Emmett. Bracken looked around at everyone's shocked expressions and giggled quietly "relax guys, Emmett has asked a fair question". Emmett smiled and nodded at everyone "see, fair question". Bracken nodded and took a deep breath "it was horrible...actually horrible isn't the word to describe what I went though, there is no word to describe" Bracken shook her head. Everyone watched as Bracken carried on, her happy expression dropped "you body burns from the inside out, you have an ache in your heart so bad that you know the only way to stop it is to remove it, so you do...with your hands. But you know its wrong so as well as trying to dig out your own heart your trying to tear your arm off to stop it, your muscles have a life of their own, your limbs start throwing themselves all over. Once all that is over...the pain I mean, the burning continues. It's relentless, and it goes on for what seams like forever. You can't see, and you can't hear much, you lose all sense of time.

Everyone stared at Bracken in shock at what Bracken had said, Alice would have cried if she was still able to. Bracken cupped her cheek with her hand and smiled at her lovingly "but everything I went through, the heat and the pain, none of it mattered to me...because my only thought was you". Alice smiled and kissed Bracken "I love you" she whispered, Edward shook his head and stood abruptly. Everyone watched Edward with disgust as he stormed out of the house and ran off into the forest, while everyone was angered by Edwards reactions to Bracken, Bracken knew why Edward was acting this way...and understood. Bracken smiled at everyone "he needs time to come to terms with all this, his mind and values are still in the early nineteen hundreds", Emmett growled and stood "excuse me" he said quietly before he raced out of the house.

Emmett raced after Edward, stopping when he found him in a small clearing, sitting on a fallen tree. Emmett walked up behind him and grabbed the back of his shirt, slamming him over and over against a tree nearby. Edward tried pulling out of Emmett's grasp, Emmett held firm and slammed him harder, splitting the tree. "Stop being a prick!" Emmett yelled, Edward pulled out of Emmett's grasp and moved away from him "Alice has gone against everything that's right" he replied calmly. Emmett stepped back, shocked that his brother believed his own words "you really mean it". Edward straightened his shirt and nodded "of course, you can't tell me this is right Emmett. It must be stopped, Alice should never have turned Bracken". Emmett shock his head "so Bracken should have been left to die?", Edward looked away, refusing to answer. Emmett growled "Bracken fought her own brother to save Bella, without asking for a thank you off us. We owe her, you owe her"

Edward turned away from Emmett, he knew Emmett was right but the words would not come to his mouth. Emmett kept watching Edward, not taking his eyes off him for a second. Finally after what seamed like hours, Edward looked up at Emmett with a broken expression "Emmett... I... I can't, I'm sorry but this still feels wrong to me". Emmett threw his hands up in frustration "what about Alice? She's your sister for Christ's sake, Bracken is a part of us now, the venom bonds us together". Edward shook his head "it's still wrong, and it's my opinion...I'm sorry", Emmett realised that no amount of talking right now would convince Edward that his way is wrong. Emmett shook his head slowly and sadly, looking at Edward one more time before walking out of the clearing at human pace. As soon as he was out of the clearing he raced to the house, stopping in the middle of the living room he looked at everyone sadly. Bracken stood up and nodded "It's ok Emmett, thank you for trying. But this is something that Edward has to come to terms with on his own".

Silence filled the room as the youngsters looked at each other, unsure what to say to make the situation better. Bracken walked to the 52" T.V and picked up the two X-Box controllers, throwing one to Emmett "come on, I'm gonna kick your ass at Halo". Everyone watched in amazement as Bracken and Emmett erased all the tension with a simple computer game. Everyone relaxed instantly and watched Bracken and Emmett compete in computer game after computer game. Alice smiled as she saw Bracken bonding closely with Emmett, Jasper started teasing the loser, who was always Emmett. Alice, Rosalie and Bella laughed as Emmett got angrier and angrier at Jaspers taunting. Bella could see Emmett swearing under his breath, Bracken finally let Emmett win after beating him for two hours straight. Emmett stood up stretching theatrically "well after sitting down for two hours I need to go lift some weights" and ran off at vampire speed, Alice dragged Bella off for yet another makeover, much to Bella's protests. Rosalie went off to see what Esme was doing, leaving Jasper and Bracken alone in the room. Jasper moved to sit closer to Bracken who suddenly looked nervous being left alone with the man whose wife she basically stole.

"Bracken, there is no need to be nervous around me anymore" Jasper said in a calming voice "I have no ill will towards you". Bracken relaxed at hearing those words but still spoke in soft whispers she knew only the two of them would hear "I thought you would, I thought out of everyone in this family, you would be the one to hate me the most for what I have done". Jasper smiled reassuringly at Bracken "and what did you do exactly? Rescue Bella and get yourself nearly killed and disowned for it? Hide your illness from the ones you have grown to care about? Make Alice happier than I can ever make her? Bracken I and the rest of the family can never hate you for what you have done and brought to the family" Bracken looked confused at Jaspers words " I don't understand what you mean, and why does Edward hate me if I have done nothing to hurt the family?", Jasper sighed "Edward is old fashioned, he is afraid of things that are new and different. But you are our family now whether he likes it or not, you are our sister now". With those words left in the air, Jasper stood up and walked off at human pace to work out with Emmett in the gym. Bracken was left stunned and happy at getting complete acceptance from everyone...everyone except Edward.

_**A/N2: might not upload another chapter till after Christmas day, like 27**__**th**__** or something. I'll try and get another chapter up quickly, but I'm kinda having trouble linking ideas right now. Got some big stuff coming up but I need small things to like them up. Any ideas? Anything you want to happen? Let me know and I'll see if I can stick it in. As always, reviews are love and I love you all**_


	12. Fitting in nicely

_**A/N: ok here's the tenth chapter, I'm gonna try and speed things along now. They can't stay this happy forever and emo Eddy has to stop being a dick eventually...right? Well this chapter is longer cos I made you wait longer, so it makes up for it I think. A big thank you to my reviewers, your all wonderfull and please keep reviewing. Big shout out to shadow cub for the Emo Ed name, thanks so much. And big shout out to pure angel eyes for 3 reviews, Ali lane, Aurike and miss Alyssa Cullen for your kind words. I value your opinions so much, and hopefully you'll encourage more to review. Well anyway, on with the story...**_

**Chapter Ten: Fitting in nicely**

Two weeks passed, the adoption papers got filed and Bracken fell quickly into the daily routine of the family. Edward still wasn't happy with Bracken and often kept to himself, spending time in his room and hunting on his own. Bracken felt guilt for splitting the family this way, but everyone were quick to reassure her that she was part of the family now and as welcome as Edward. Alice wasted no time changing the bedroom to show both her and Bracken's personality, pink and black walls, rock posters, she even split her walk in wardrobe in two halves for Bracken's clothes as well as hers. Emmett was over the moon at having a tough new sister to compete with on any level, and Esme loved having another daughter in the house to mother and love. Rosalie came around to the idea of Bracken being family quickly and even enjoyed her presence around the house. Carlisle was one of the happiest, a new species to study, to which Bracken was more than happy to go along with, and a new daughter who showed great interest in his work.

"come in" Carlisle spoke as he heard a knock on his study door, Bracken walked in and sat on the chair opposite his desk "hi dad, you doing anything?". Carlisle looked up from his paperwork and smiled "nothing that can't wait, what can I do for you?", Bracken sat back in her chair and thought for a second "I want to be a doctor...we finish school soon, can I go away to college?". Carlisle sat back looking surprised his newest daughter would ask for his permission "of course Bracken, you'll probably get Alice wanting to go with you. We live forever, we've all attended college several times each. You don't need to ask for permission". Bracken nodded "I know, I thought I should ask or something...I have a fortune in my bank account...but I don't have my card". Carlisle moved the paperwork to the side and lent on the desk "we have more than enough money, I'll have a card made up for you in the week", Bracken shook her head "no dad, I don't want you to blow your money on me. I'll find a way to get my bank card back". Carlisle laughed a warm friendly laugh and smiled "Bracken we all have more money than we can spend, even if we wanted to we couldn't spend it all". Bracken stood and nodded "thanks dad, I love you", Carlisle smiled as he watched his daughter leave and went back to his paperwork.

Bracken walked down to the back garden and wondered over to a willow tree, she sat with her back against the trunk. Bracken tried to think of ways to get her bank card and other documents back, tried to think of whom she could contact who would get it all for her. Bracken looked over at the house and saw Esme walking into the garden with some plants and gardening equipment in her hands, Bracken watched as she knelt at a patch of soil and started working it. It reminded her of her mama, nurturing and caring, always working to improve her surroundings. Only her mama isn't her mama any more. Bracken stood up and walked slowly to Esme, standing to the side of her she cleared her throat before speaking "hi mom". Esme looked up and smiled "Bracken, would you like to help me?", Bracken smiled and nodded as she knelt next to her new mother and started working the soil with her. Esme watched as Bracken picked plants to place in the soil, she noticed Bracken had an eye for flowers. Esme noticed Bracken looked deep in thought and decided it would be best to not push any conversation on her just yet. Bracken felt a calm wash over her as she worked with the flowers, it was like planting gave her this new kind of calm and she could think a little clearer. Edward watched Esme and Bracken from the window and scowled, "who does she think she is? Trying to become part of the Cullen family...the nerve of her" Rosalie scoffed. "Back off Rosalie" Edward scowled, just as Rosalie was about to respond when a voice sounded on the other side of the room "any of ye know where Bracken is by any chance?".

Bracken heard shouting and looked up, she and Esme stood up and rushed into the house. They stopped when they saw a young man stood on the other side of the room with Edward, Carlisle, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice stood between them and Bella stood to the side. The young man had his hands up and was backed up slightly "whoa guys, I'm only looking for Bracken. Have any of ya seen her" he spoke in a thick Irish accent. Bracken moved though the crowd and ran to the man "Frankie!". The young man pulled Bracken into a big hug, lifting her off the ground and swinging her around before standing her on the floor again. "Ah Bracken, it's good to see ya little cousin. I been searching for a week for ya" Frankie said loudly, Rosalie stepped forward "Excuse me, but who the fuck are you?". Bracken smiled and turned to face everyone "everyone this is my cousin, Frankie. Frankie, this is my family...my new family, the Cullens". Frankie stepped forward and held out his hand to Carlisle "Francis McCanse the Third, but everyone calls me Frankie. Honour to meet ya sir". Carlisle shook his hand "how did you know I was head of the family?", Frankie looked and Bracken briefly before turning back to Carlisle and laughed "It's like me gift, I can spot power a mile off. I always know whose boss".

Frankie turned to Bracken "I'm here on business, ya ma sent me. She saved ya things, your pa was gonna burn them. The important stuff got saved. Your ma wanted me to find ya so I could bring her to you". Bracken looked at Frankie in surprise, not surprise that her father would do that, but surprise that her mother would be able to get any of her belongings. "Thank you Frankie, please tell her I am well and happy. I look forward to seeing her" Bracken replied, Frankie nodded "well I better get me ass back to the house, old Callum will have the boys out hunting me ass if I don't". "Take care Frankie, I'll see you soon" Bracken said as Frankie jumped out the window he jumped in through. Everyone stood in silence, watching Bracken as she stared at the window. Rosalie stepped forward "what the fuck was that?", Bracken turned and smiled "that was my cousin Frankie, and my best friend. My contact to the family and my way for mama to know I'm still alive and well". No one had notice that Edward had left the room, no one except Rosalie. Everyone moved to the couches and Bracken started her story.

"Frankie is a few years older than me, 4 human years to be exact, but we were as close as if we were twins. He's Callum's nephew, and the only one of them who likes me. He's working closely with my mama...Anastasia, to get my stuff out of the house and now that I'm gone he'll take over the role of protecting her and my little brother. Through everything that has happened to me over the decades I have been alive he has always been my protector, always looking out for me when he could", Bracken paced the room as if trying to work something out. She stopped, turned to everyone and said quietly as Edward walked into the room and sat next to Rosalie "everyone, close your eyes". Everyone did what Bracken asked them to do, suddenly everyone gasped as their minds were transported somewhere else.

**Russia – 1880:**

A small girl with chin length black hair ran through the snow to a large manor house, she pushed open one of the large wooden doors and ran inside, skidding to a stop in the middle of a grand entrance hall. "Bracken! How are ya kid?" came the voice of boy at the top of the stairs, the pair ran to meet at the bottom of the stairs, embracing tightly. "Frankie! I missed you so much, when did you get here?" the younger Bracken smiled, Frankie was about to speak when they heard a booming voice from upstairs "Bracken! Come here now!". Bracken's eyes went wide with shock and Frankie saw that, he took her hand and quietly led her to the gardens and into the woods. They ran, ran as fast as they could, through the snow and past the bare trees. Branches were whipping them in the face but they didn't stop, they kept running as if for their lives...because in a way they were. They finally found what they were looking for and ran into an abandoned cottage, Bracken collapsed in the corner of the room and Frankie went about the routine of covering up the windows and doors.

Hearing the quiet whimpers coming from the corner of the room Frankie rushed to her side and dropped to his knees, pulling Bracken into his lap and holding her while she cried and shivered. "shh Bracken, it's ok. I got ya away from my pa and yours, they won't find us here" Frankie's Irish accent strong even in childhood, Bracken looked up at him through tear blurred eyes and sniffed "wh..What did I do Frankie? Why are they mad at me now?". Frankie shook his head "ye did nothing wrong kid, me pa is just angry right now. Ya know he'll have paid your pa for some time with you". Bracken buried her face in his chest and sobbed again "help me Frankie, help me...please", Frankie nodded "as sure as your me cousin, Bracken, I swear to ya. I swear on my ma's soul, I'll protect you from our pa's". He sat there rocking her back and forth for hours, as the sobs turned to quiet sobs, then to sniffles and hiccups. Finally, after hours, she pulled away and Frankie stood, helping her to her feet.

The pair crept out into the darkness and slowly made their way into the night, keeping as quiet as they could they crept into the back entrance of the manor and up the stairs. They snuck into Bracken's room and locked the door behind them. Bracken changed into her nightclothes and Frankie took of his pants, leaving his shirt on. Bracken climbed into the bed and Frankie moved behind her, pulling Bracken close to his body and holding her there until they both fell asleep.

**Present day:**

Everyone opened their eyes and looked in shock at Bracken, everyone knew she had a painful past, but seeing a glimpse of it was a shock to them all. Edward stood and walked forward slowly "Bracken...I...I'm sorry you went through that" he said in nearly a whisper as he held his hand out, Bracken shook his hand and smiled "forget it...Brother". In that one small moment, the two youngsters finally became siblings. Edward saw a side of Bracken that opened his eyes a little to the kind of person she really was, hurt, hunted...unloved by the one man who should have loved her most. In that one short memory he saw the hurt in a small child's eyes, the hurt and pain that would last for eternity now that she was immortal like they. He realised that she needed them, she was desperate to fit into the family that she has been searching for her entire existence. In that memory he became very protective of her and realised that he felt a brotherly bond to the young wolf. Carlisle watched the two and smiled, his family had finally become complete. Emmett looked around the room at everyone and felt the surging emotions, clapping his hands together he stood up " right, enough of this mushy bullshit, Emo Eddie has finally stopped being a dick and we've all seen some fucked up stuff...lets play Xbox" he announced in a loud voice.

"Emmett! You do not swear in this house, and do not refer to Bracken's vision in that way" Esme scolded. Everyone was surprised to hear Bracken laughing, "Your right Emmett, lets go play Xbox" Bracken said in between laughter. Emmett clapped a hand on Bracken's back and smiled a big beaming smile at everyone "you all hear that? Bracken here said I'm right". The mood in the room lightened immediately with that small exchange of words, normality, well as normal as possible for a family of vampires. Bella walked up to Edward and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing up on tiptoes she kissed him. "What was that for?" Edward asked with a smile, "for finally opening up to Bracken, for accepting her. You don't know how happy you have made not only her, but Alice as well. Thank you" she replied softly. Bracken thrashed Emmett in 3 out of 5 games on Halo, the game finally ended when Emmett folded his arms and refused to play any more. Bracken laughed as Jasper teased Emmett, the stopped quickly when Emmett threw Jasper across the room and tried to shove the Xbox somewhere very uncomfortable.

Two days later, Bracken was in the garden with Emmett, while everyone else was around the house doing their own things. "Bracken" came Esme's voice from inside the house, Bracken and Emmett looked up and headed into the house. Bracken stopped and looked stunned as he saw three all to familiar figures standing in the room with the Cullens stood around them. "Bracken" Anastasia McCanse whispered as a smile spread across her lips, Bracken nodded as a small boy pushed past and ran up to Bracken "Brackie!" he yelled as he threw his arms around her waist and hugged tightly. "Hey Cubbie, I've missed you little brother" Bracken said as a wide smile spread across her lips. "Told ya I'd get them here...with your stuff" Frankie announced as he pointed to two large duffle bags behind them. Frankie placed a folder in Bracken's hands "your bank details, cards, papers. Basically everything you need for your new life here". Esme moved everyone to the living room and everyone took seats, waiting for someone to speak. Anastasia spoke up, her Russian accent thick in her voice "Bracken, Dr Cullen has told me about the adoption. He is a good man and I am happy you have found a loving family...happy you have found a father at last". Anastasia pulled out a wrapped package and passed it to Bracken, Bracken looked at the package in confusion but untied the ribbon anyway. As she folded back the black fabric she finally realised what it was, "your grandpapa wanted you to have it, he gave it to you all those years ago for a reason" Anastasia said. Bracken held the cape up and looked at it, the one thing her grandfather had given her was back in her possession. Bracken felt tears that could never be shed build up behind her eyes, she folded the cape carefully and placed it on the arm of the couch and opened the duffle bag in front of her.

Bracken pulled out a guitar and smiled, Cubbie's eyes lit up and he sat forward on the couch "play something Brackie". Bracken looked up at Frankie and winked, she started strumming furiously and she and Frankie started singing loudly. Cubbie started dancing and clapping as he laughed, Frankie sung the loudest and danced with Cubbie, joined soon after by Bracken. Bracken sat back down and put the guitar away. "I'll go through everything else later. "Your looking really well Bracken, I have not seen you like this since you were born" Anastasia said, Bracken nodded and smiled "I have been cured mama, I have been changed". Anastasia looked at Alice and smiled "ah yes, you have been changed by your mate", Alice looked at Anastasia in shock "how...how did you know?". Anastasia smiled "A mother always knows these things...well...I guess I am not Bracken's mother any more", Bracken looked down "are you upset about it?". Anastasia smiled at the wolf who was once her daughter "no young one. I am happy for you, you have finally found a family, with siblings who love you, and father who would die for you and a mother who adores you as much as I do". Bracken looked at Esme, who smiled at her and nodded, and knew that she no longer had any tie to her past.

Frankie stood up and cleared his throat "well, if we don't get our backsides back to the manor then old Callum will have da boys out looking for us", Bracken nodded and moved to stand in front of Cubbie "now Cubs, I need you to listen. I'm not going with you, this is my home and these are my new family". Cubbie looked around at everyone in the room and looked back at Bracken with tears in his eyes "but...but you're my sister", Bracken knelt in front of Cubbie and hugged him "we will always be brother and sister, nothing will ever change that I promise you. If you ever need me I'll be right here, but here I have what mama said I have". Cubbie cried into Bracken's shoulder, but even though he shed tears for the sister he felt he was losing, he understood why she was doing this. He knew she had been disowned, no one thought he heard, but he did. Through the pain he felt deep down in his chest, the young wolf understood that his big sister had to stay away. "I love you Brackie" Cubbie whispered in her ear, "I love you too Cubbie...I always will" Bracken whispered back as she pulled away and stood up. "Be good Bracken, and please take care" Anastasia said as she said good bye to her daughter, "we'll look after her" Carlisle said as he stood behind his new daughter. Frankie waved bye as the three of them walked out of the door, "look after them frank!" Bracken shouted after them. "Always have...always will!" Frankie shouted back, Bracken turned and looked at her new family, and she thought to her self that nothing could go wrong now.

_**A/N2: well, I hope everyone liked that chapter. Tried to have it emotional, show off a bit of Bracken's past and use that to open emo Eddie's eyes to the real Bracken. Next chapter is gonna be more action packed, bit of danger, demons of some kind...and anything else I can fit in while I'm writing. Gonna take a few weeks to do each chapter now cos I'm deciding to knuckle down on my novel and try to get it done by summer 2011. Always welcome advice and suggestions, so if you have any then let me know. Once again, hit the review button and tell me what you think**_


	13. Heart boxes and fight clubs

**A/N: Awesome reviews yet again, thank you so much. The reviews make me smile knowing you've enjoyed each step in this journey as much as I have. Hopefully this step will be as exciting as the last. Big shout out to PureAngelEyes for her reviews. I love all my reviewers**

**Chapter eleven: Heart boxes and fight clubs**

Getting Bracken's things back made her a lot happier and lightened the mood around the house. Bracken came across some old portraits of her as a child and Alice Had fun with Rosalie trawling antique shops looking for the perfect frames to put them up around the house. Brackens guitar and violin took their places next to Edwards piano, her sheet music and other papers filled a filing cabinet in their bedroom. Edward found that he enjoyed playing with Bracken and even attempted playing some of her compositions, the nights were now filled with music and everyone sat around listening to Bracken and Edward. As everyone sat around the piano one clear summer night, listening to Bracken and Edward playing Bracken's newest composition, Carlisle looked at everyone. Rosalie and Emmett were cuddled on one of the sofas; Alice was sat on the love seat smiling lovingly at Bracken. Jasper was smiling, enjoying the feeling of contentment that radiated from the family. Bella stood from her space on the sofa next to Jasper and walked over to the piano, sitting next to Edward and resting her head on his shoulder. Edward kissed the top of her head and carried on playing; Bracken looked down at them and smiled. Carlisle looked down at his wife and smiled at her, after 600 years his family was finally complete.

Bella laid down in Edward's bed and fell asleep while everyone hunted, her dreams were slightly disturbed and she tossed and turned. Bella sat up in the bed with a start and looked around the dark room panicked, she wasn't sure why she woke or why she felt so nervous, but she did and she was. Bella placed her feet softly on the floor and tiptoed to the bedroom door quietly and slowly, opening the door she peered out into the dark and waited for her eyes to adjust. With a deep, steadying breath she slowly and quietly walked down the hallway to the top of the stairs. With every step down the stairs she took her chest got tighter and tighter, her palms grew clammier by the second and she felt her knees weaken. As she got to the bottom of the stairs she still didn't dare to turn on the lights, even though she knew that the things that went bump in the night could see better in the dark than she could in the light. Bella edged to the front door slowly and her eyes jittered around the room, trying to watch all of the houses access points at the same time. After what seemed like an hour, Bella finally reached the front door, opening it slowly she poked her head out and looked around. Seeing nothing but darkness she had the sudden impulse to look down, confusion in her eyes she picked up the black box wrapped in ribbon and walked back into the house. As she lifted the lid off the box she let out a scream and dropped the box and contents onto the floor.

The Cullens rushed back to the house, Jasper feeling Bella's sense of panic and Edward deciding the family needed to be home right away. They stopped as soon as they saw Bella huddled on the couch her legs drawn into her chest, Edward rushed to her side and knelt next to her, pulling her close to him. Jasper stood next to Bella and concentrated on calming her panicked emotions, everyone moved around the house to secure all access points. Bracken looked down and picked up the box that lay forgotten on the floor, lifting the lid off she realised what had Bella so panicked. "Everyone stop, no one is here, but you all need to see this" Bracken said as she moved further into the room, everyone gathered around and looked down at the box. Everyone gasped and stared in shock at the contents of the box, "ok why the fuck would someone leave a heart in a box? That's sick" Emmett exclaimed. Bracken sighed and placed the lid back on the box "It's a message...It means Bella's time is up...they're coming for her". Edward stood up and faced Bracken "what do you mean they're coming for her? Whose coming for her?" Bracken took a deep unneeded breath and spoke with a deathly weak tone of voice "The harbingers...the bringers of death".

Emmett was the first one to speak and his voice cut through the silence like a knife "what the fuck are harbingers and why are they going after Bells?". Bracken looked at Bella briefly with sad apologetic eyes before looking at everyone "Callum...he's finishing what he started. He wants Bella dead". Edward and Emmett both growled and Esme hushed them before speaking calmly to Bracken "Is there anyway to stop them? Maybe you should tell us about them so we can understand them more", Bracken nodded and led everyone to the sofas. Edward sat with Bella and pulled her onto his lap while Emmett sat next to him, everyone else sat in various places, not concerned with sitting in their usual pairs. Alice sat next to Bracken and held her hand for support as Bracken started "no one really knows the origin of the harbingers, but everyone knows what they do. They bring death and destruction to the one chosen...or marked. Being marked means you are going to die, you won't know how or when or sometimes even why...but you will die. The one who calls them pays a price so when the harbingers are called you know that someone really wants you dead"

"They've been around possibly since the beginning of time, but as long as there has been death there have been harbingers. They're cloaked, hooded figures that ride dead horses. You don't hear them, smell then or sense them in any way and you will only see them when they want you to see them...which is when they strike you dead. There is no physical way to fight them, you have to have a higher power call them off...but even that comes at a price. But not many know how to contact the higher powers so pretty much everyone dies". Carlisle spoke up as his curiosity rose "who are the higher powers and what price do you have to pay? How is it not possible for them to be physically defeated?", Bracken stood and paced as she spoke "the harbingers are between death, not alive but not dead, you cannot kill by mortal means that which is not bound to the mortal realm. The higher powers are beings that are similar to harbingers but tread a different path, they are hard to find, few have contact with them". Emmett finally had enough and stood quickly "well how the hell do we find one of these higher beings?", Bracken looked at Emmett and spoke with a calm that no one shared "I know of one, but she is hard to convince and she requires a high price herself". Emmett rubbed his hands together and suddenly got excited "well what the hell are we hanging around here for then? Let's get a move on and go see this chick".

Bracken shook her head "it's not that easy, I mean I can take you to see her but I need to go get ready first", everyone looked in confusion as Bracken rushed upstairs and came back down a few minutes later looking like an extra from a gangster movie. Bracken stood in front of them wearing a black hoodie with the hood up, baggy jeans tied tightly with a belt, a black beanie and black gloves. "There are some important rules involved in this. Bella is to be watched at all times, we're going to a place dangerous to all of us but mostly to Bella. I do all the talking and everyone follows my lead. And lastly, watch who you look at or talk to, we don't want any problems" Bracken said in a serious tone. Emmett shook his head "where the hell are we going? And why the hell are you dressed like that?" Bracken just started walking to the garage "you'll see when we get there". They all got in two cars and Bracken pulled out the garage, taking the lead. They drove to Seattle, and Bella watched out the car window as the city streets raced past, not knowing where Bracken was leading them but knowing that they had to follow. Bracken drove down an alleyway and pulled up outside a large service door, Bracken got out of the car and everyone followed. Bracken held up her right fist and banged on the door four times, everyone watched and waited as a small opening in the door was opened and a man's face appeared.

"What do you want?" he asked in a deep gruff voice, "let me in Tiny" Bracken said in a bored voice. "piss off runt, your not part of a family" the man replied, Bracken used the opening to climb up the door, reaching in with her left hand she grabbed tiny's neck and pulled his head against the door. Speaking in an dangerously quiet voice she said calmly "let me in tiny, before I rip your throat out and shove it up your ass", she let go of him and with shaky hands he opened the door and let them all in. Bracken walked past and everyone followed, looking at tiny and being shocked to see she had made a 400 pound man nearly wet himself. Bella looked around and hid herself into Edward's side more, everyone walked close behind Bracken as they walked through the crowd in what looked to be a night club. The walked up to the bar and Bracken shook hands with a young man with scruffy blond hair and casual skater style clothes. Emmett looked around and noticed several pole dancers, topless men and women walking around and a boxing ring, Bracken looked at what Emmett was looking at and noticed the ring "it's for the fighters". Rosalie noticed the tone in Bracken's voice but decided against saying anything, Bracken talked to the bar tender for what seamed like 10 minutes when one of the dancers walked up behind her. "What the hell are you doing back here Bracks?" she asked in a teasing voice, Bracken turned around slowly and gave her a dead look "I'm here on business, nothing more". "Usual business? I've missed you a lot you know" the dancer replied as she played with the tie string on Bracken's hoodie.

Bracken swatted her hand away and turned her back to her "not that kind of business, and I haven't missed you. Now piss off", everyone watched silently while Bracken went back to talking to the bartender. They discussed Bracken's being thrown out of her family and Bracken told him about how she joined the Cullens, they shared a few more words and then Bracken shook his hand one more time. Turning back to everyone she pointed behind her "right, the oracle is in so we can go up and see her", everyone followed her as they walked up some large spiral stairs at the back of the club. They walked halfway up the staircase when Bracken stopped next to a small podium, everyone watched as Bracken reached for the podium and picked up a knife, Bella's eyes widened and she gasped as she watched Bracken hold her left hand up and with her right hand drew the knife across the palm. Once her hand was covered in blood she drew a pentagram in the air in front of her, everyone was shocked to see a large wooden door appear in front of them. Bracken turned to the Cullens and smiled grimly "blood magic, this oracle is very old and uses blood magic for things like this". Bracken opened the door and walked into the room, everyone followed slowly, not knowing what was on the other side.

**A/N2: ok this is the last chapter until after the New Year, I hope everyone enjoyed this and sorry for the cliffy. We'll find out what was in the room in the next chapter and I promise the next chapter is going to be action packed and full of danger. Thanks to my reviewers and hopefully I'll get some more soon...now...press the button below...come on you know you want to. Reviews are love people and the more reviews I get the quicker I write.**


	14. the oracle and the goliath

**A/N: ok sorry it took me so long to post this, I spent two months perfecting this chapter then we get a boat load of viruses off a website and my system restore did the unthinkable and wiped all the files. Music, pictures, chapters...even my novel I'm working on, lost the last chapter I wrote. Well anyway, thank you for your patience and I hope this chapter is worth the wait...by the way, as usual I only own Bracken. The whole twilight thing is Stephanie Mayer's work.**

**Chapter Twelve: The Oracle and the Goliath**

The room on the other side of the door was larger than Bella could have thought possible, it was bigger than even the Cullen's living room. The walls were lined with bookcases filled with ancient books, the edges dog-eared with use. On the wall in front of them stood an ancient mahogany desk in front of a large viewing window. Sat at the desk was a beautiful woman who although looked like she was middle aged, had a timeless beauty. Bracken stepped forward and bowed grandly, once the woman nodded in greeting Bracken waved everyone forward. Bella made sure she stayed as close to Edward as possible, nearly behind his back, keeping as out of sight as possible. The Oracle looked at everyone and back to Bracken "what is your reason for being here young wolf?" Bracken looked back at everyone then turning back to the Oracle she spoke "we need you to reverse an order on the Harbingers". The Oracle looked at Bracken in surprise "but as you know, once a Harbinger has been called it can almost never be called off". Bracken nodded "I know...but sometimes you can and I was hoping you would try calling them off my sister Bella", the young man stood next to the Oracle scoffed "you ask my mother for a favour but offer nothing in return? And why should she grant you any favours? Your nothing but a disgrace to your kind, without a family".

Carlisle went to speak up but was cut off by Bracken "I do have a family Sebastian; I am part of the Cullen clan now. As for offering something in return your mother knows that she can ask me for anything in return and I would gladly agree". Sebastian growled with anger "but why should she do you any favours? You are nothing to us now!" as soon as he finished he leapt over the table and crouched in front of Bracken ready to attack, Bracken crouched just as low and took her usual defensive pose. They both lunged at each other but the second their bodies collided they both pulled back, Sebastian screaming in pain and falling to the floor, Bracken holding her head but holding back any screams. Just as quickly as they started, they stopped and Bracken straightened up instantly as if nothing had happened while Sebastian took longer to recover. The Oracle looked down at her son in disappointment "you ask why Bracken should ask anything of me? She has just proved herself. Not only was she ready to fight you to defend herself but she also handled the excruciating pain I dealt you both better then you did. That is why". Sebastian scrambled slowly to his feet and slowly took his place behind his mother, hanging his head in shame. The Oracle turned to Bracken and smiled "you ask me to help your family member, I shall try. But I ask you to do me one thing, one more fight. One fight and you can turn your back on us for good". Alice pushed forward and slammed her hands on the table in anger "she is not fighting anyone!", Bracken placed her hand on Alice's shoulder in an attempt to calm her "there is much about my past you do not know...this is one part of it" looking at the Oracle she spoke "I'll do it, one fight in exchange for your assistance. But no more after this, I'm done"

The Oracle nodded "of course, you fight tonight. One of our fighters pulled out of the next fight and so we need to line up a replacement fight. You may get ready in the fighters quarters, your family may watch from the ringside". Bracken nodded and after one final grand bow she led the Cullens out of the room. Sebastian watched them leave and lent close to his mother "let me pick the fight", the Oracle looked at him in suspicion "you have something planned". Sebastian nodded and smiled in a way that showed his evil side "you could say that mother". The Oracle nodded "very well Sebastian, you may pick the fighter. But please pick fairly", Sebastian smirked and walked out of the office. The Oracle watched her son leave the office and sighed, her son was becoming more like his father every day and that worried her. His father was a man of great evil and the thought that her son had the same evil running though his body was something the Oracle was afraid of since the day he was born. But now that she had told him he could pick the fighter she could only sit and hope that he did indeed pick fair and not used this to get revenge on Bracken.

Alice and the Cullens stood in the crowd watching and waiting nervously for the fight to begin, the empty ring mocking Alice with the promise that her new found love might very well end this night. The crowd around them were buzzing with anticipation at the oncoming fight, everyone discussing who the fighters were going to be. The club was packed with spectators buying drinks and finding choice places around the ring, pole dancers danced on their podiums and stages getting the guys worked up ready. Everyone looked around as small fights and scuffles broke out as the testosterone was raging, just as Alice has about to go find Bracken and drag her out of there the lights dimmed and everyone went silent. From the back of the club Bracken walked to the ring, her hood covered head bowed as she made her way through the crowd. The Cullens watched and Bella's breath caught in her throat, she never wanted Bracken to risk her life for her. Bracken climbed into the ring and pulled her hood back, the crowed started shouting for her blood. As Bracken stood in the ring; stretching and preparing her body, the crowd parted and her opponent walked slowly to the ring. Bracken stood and watched as the biggest man you had ever seen walked to the ring, jumping easily over the ropes. The crowd cheered as the giant threw his coat off his body and into the audience, Alice could hear people calling him the goliath and saying he was undefeated. The urge to jump into the ring and pull Bracken out of the club was overwhelming her and Emmett placed his hand on her shoulder, pulling her into his body not only for comfort but to stop her from doing what she wants to do.

Bracken looked up at the beast of a man and started circling him slowly, the Goliath stood in place only turning on the spot to follow Bracken's movements. The Goliath decided to swing for her and Bracken used her speed and size to jump out of the way, bouncing around the ring every time her struck out at her. The crowd were booing about ten minutes into the fight, no blood had been shed yet and everyone was calling Bracken a coward for not striking any blows. The truth was that Bracken was using tactics to win the fight, tiring him out so that she can strike the winning blow once he has no strength to defend himself. This worked well for the first twenty minutes until the Goliath got frustrated and swung both his arms out, hitting Bracken across the chest and knocking her across the ring. Bracken got up and was hit straight away by a barrage of blows to her upper and lower body, knocking her around the ring like she was a rag doll. Alice hid her face in Emmett's chest as Rosalie held her from behind. Bella was crying on Edwards shoulder while he comforted her, Esme and Carlisle struggled against their newly found parental instincts that were shouting at them to rescue Bracken. Jasper was the only one who knew that this was something Bracken had to do, and getting knocked about the ring would actually help Bracken in the long run...if only she could hold on long enough for the beatings to pay off.

As Bracken bounced around the ring; quickly losing strength and speed herself, two swords were thrown into the ring. Bracken dove between the Goliath's legs and picked up the swords mid roll, everyone including the Cullens looked around to see who threw the swords and everyone was surprised to see the bartender Bracken was talking to earlier was smiling and waving at Bracken. Bracken nodded and smiled back as she stood and turned to face the Goliath with a new found strength, the Goliath laughed as he stepped toward her. Bracken leapt back onto the ropes and using them like a springboard bounced over the Goliath's head, landing behind him and slicing deep into his back with both blades before the had the chance to turn around. People stopped cheering now but shouted in anger as Bracken bounced around the ring, slicing into the Goliath more and more; his blood covering the ring and not just Bracken's. Finally the Goliath threw his arm out and grabbed Bracken's neck, lifting her up seven feet into the air, everyone cheered as Bracken thrashed around pretending to choke. As everyone thought the fight was finally over and started shouting and punching the air Bracken went limp in the Goliath's grip, just as Goliath was about to snap Bracken's neck and toss her to the floor she opened her eyes and smiled at him. Lifting one of her swords into the air she drove it down into his arm causing him to yell out in pain and drop her to the floor.

Bracken picked up the dropped sword and stood ready to fight as the Goliath pulled out the second sword from his arm and threw it down. Turning to face Bracken he charged at her; anger fuelling his movements. Bracken jumped up and landed on his right shoulder, bouncing off it straight away and landed by the sword, picking it up and turning to face the Goliath once more. As he turned and charged at her once more she leapt into the air, driving the sword into his shoulder as she leapt over him, flipping in mid air. As soon as her feet touched the floor she drove the second sword into his back, the Goliath fell to his knees; Bracken placed her foot onto his back and shoved him forward causing him to fall forward with a loud thud. Bracken looked up at the raised viewing box for a second before pulling out his windpipe, running across the ring and leaping twenty feet into the air and landing on the viewing box. Bracken sat down on the desk and placed the windpipe down next to her, the Oracle waved her hand and one of her servants stepped forward and collected the windpipe; taking it away. Bracken looked down at her family and spoke quietly "now we're even, I've got what you wanted now you call of the Harbingers. I fight no more...I'm done". The Oracle nodded and without another word; Bracken dropped down into the crowd, Bracken walked up to Cullens and smiled as Alice ran into her arms. The family crowded around Bracken and congratulated her, the bartender pushed his way through and slapped his hand on her shoulder "good fight kid, are you leaving now?" Bracken nodded "yeah, I'm done now. For good this time...so I guess this is goodbye", the bartender smiled "yeah, good riddance. You never belonged in this dump anyway" he held up her car keys and dropped them into Bracken's waiting hand "I took them from your pocket and loaded your trunk with a surprise for you...a kind of...going away present. Hope I never see you again". Bracken smiled and hugged the bartender "yeah I hope I never see you again either", with their good byes said Bracken and the Cullens left the night club; climbed into their cars and drove off.

"So Bracken, what did he stick in the trunk?" Emmett asked excitedly as Bracken wove through the streets on the way back to Forks, Bracken smiled "vodka and fresh venison blood". Emmett looked in the rear view mirror in confusion "vampires don't drink alcohol, even vodka", Bracken laughed "if you mix equal parts then it actually proves to be very potent, we have enough for us to have quite a party". Emmett cheered loudly causing Rosalie to smack him in the back of the head, Alice giggled from the front seat as they entered Forks and drove though towards the Cullen house. Edward, Jasper and Emmett unloaded the cars and carried the cases of blood and Vodka while Esme, Carlisle and the girls led Bracken into the house. They helped Bracken sit on one of the sofa's and Carlisle checked her over to make sure her wounds were healing properly, the boys put the cases in the kitchen and started moving the bottles into the fridge. Carlisle stood up and smiled "well, Esme and I will leave you kids alone. Have fun bonding", everyone nodded and said good night as Carlisle and Esme headed up the stairs. Emmett grabbed a bottle of blood, bottle of vodka and seven shot glasses, slamming them on the table he shouted excitedly "time to get trashed boys and girls, Bracken, rack up the drinks!" Bracken smiled and grabbed the two bottles, pouring equal amounts of each into the glasses. Only pouring vodka in one glass for Bella.

**A/N2: ok so I left it there for a reason...well several reasons actually. 1. It felt like a good place to break it, 2. It was 3am when I got to this point and I'd been working on it for days 3. I really couldn't be fucked to right anymore for a bit. Plus it leads onto the next chapter really well I think. Ok...so...now would be a very good time to review...I love reviews**


	15. one drink, two drink

**A/N: Ok, so it's been like weeks or something since I last posted. My bad guys... kind of hit a writer's block. **

**Chapter Thirteen: One drink, two drink...**

Bracken slid the glasses across the table to each of the vampires; Bella looked down at her shot glass nervously. Edward lent down to grab her glass when Emmett stopped him "no chance bro, she's in it with us", Bella nodded her head "Emmett's right Edward, I need to do this with you all". Edward sighed and sat back in his seat as Bracken looked around "right, drinking game. We're playing I never, the rules are really simple and it's great to get to know everyone. Everyone takes it in turns to say something that they haven't done, everyone who has done it then has to take a shot...get it?", everyone nodded and Bracken went first "I never sucked a guy off". Everyone except the guys and Bella took a drink; Emmett laughed "well as expected. Ok my turn...I never fucked anyone outside", everyone except Bella took a drink. The game went on for a few hours; everyone had drunk plenty and were well on their way to tipsy. Bella on the other hand hadn't drunk that much so she was still pretty level headed. Edward could see what Bracken was doing by coming up with the drinking game and he was very thankful to her for it.

Emmett had grabbed some bigger glasses and filled them up, pushing the empty shot glasses away. Everyone had grabbed a glass each and sat back in their seats to relax, Emmett thought or a minute and then spoke quietly "So...you were made to work in that joint". Bracken looked down and quietly replied "yeah I was...when I was 11 wolf years, 111 in human years. We had moved to Seattle for a while and Callum decided that I was old enough to earn my keep. After watching me defend myself against my 3 older brothers, Callum learnt that I was a very good fighter. I spent two decades fighting in that place before we had to move again; I had more injuries in those two decades than ten humans in their entire lifetimes". Everyone watched Bracken as she looked down, everyone knew Emmett had gone too far but they were glad someone asked her. Bracken took a deep breath and carried on "to be honest I was more willing to work there than my other jobs", Alice looked at Bracken in confusion "other jobs?" Bracken nodded "Callum decided that I was not good for the normal female roles, I was not allowed to carry out male roles so callum had to find some other way for me to be useful". Bella knew where this was going from the vision Bracken showed of her past but asked anyway "what way did he find for you to be useful?", Bracken sighed "well...we had a lot of males in our pack".

Bracken stood and paced the room as she continued "a female role in the pack is to look after the young ones, to cook and clean and basically look after the home. The male's role is to provide and protect the pack and basically rule over the females." Bracken paused to look at everyone before carrying on, "Callum decided that the males had needs that I could take care of, even as a young cub. The males paid a price and got some time alone with me, no questions asked, no one stopped them. I was left torn and bruised but no one was allowed to do anything to help me. Anastasia and grandpapa decided that I needed to be raised differently from the other girls, I was raised to think and act more like a boy so that I could be better prepared mentally to protect myself from the horrible attacks". The young vampires watched as Bracken sat and poured a glass of vodka and blood, looking into the glass she took a sip before talking again "I was taught to fight, to hold my head high no matter what and to believe I was someone of importance. I was taken away from the normal lesions a girl cub would learn, things like cooking and cleaning, dress making and raising young. I was taught to think and act with courage and to believe in my choices even though no one else might. By the age of 10 werewolf years I was exactly what my grandpapa had raised me to be...but then he died, right before we had to leave Russia. Bracken spoke quietly, she knew she had to make them understand better "close your eyes"; everyone did as they were told. Bracken took a long drink before closing her eyes as well.

**Russia, 1900:**

The door to Bracken's room creaked as it was opened, Bracken didn't even look up. "Father wants you in the library, now" Romulus said from the doorway, Bracken sighed and nodded as her brother left the room. Bracken took a deep breath and stood up; she walked down the corridor to the library with her head held high like she had been told hundreds of times before. Bracken knocked once on the library door and opened it slowly, walking in she saw that there was only Francis, her uncle, stood by the window. Bracken looked over her shoulder as she heard the door shut and looked back at the man who was her uncle; he looked at Bracken not as a niece, but as a piece of meat. Bracken stood still as Francis strode slowly to her, she knew better than to move or even to try and fight him off. No matter how much it hurt her she knew it would be worse if she put up any kind of resistance; Frank stood over Bracken and smirked. He lent down and spoke in a quiet, threatening tone "clothes off. Now" Bracken nodded and removed her clothes, she knew he wouldn't want to leave any trace of blood. It went on for a long time...as usual, and bracken was bloodied and sore. No matter how much it hurt her or how bloodied she got, she never cried. Never showed them how bad it was, she always kept her head up.

As she walked quietly to her room and got into the bathroom, her body felt like it had been ripped apart. She stepped into the shower; the hot water loosened her aching muscles. Bracken stepped out of the shower and dried herself off, dressing in her night clothes and walking into her bedroom. Anastasia was sat on Bracken's bed waiting for her. Bracken looked down and nodded sadly, knowing her mother had come in here to see how she was. Anastasia walked to her daughter and hooked her finger under Bracken's chin, lifting her face up. "Bracken, remember what your grandpapa says. Never let your head drop, always keep it up" Anastasia whispered to her broken daughter. Bracken nodded to her mother and gave her a small smile; Anastasia tucked her daughter in bed and left the room quietly. Pulling the door closed nearly all the way, Anastasia sighed and wiped a tear from her eyes. Her only daughter, her little girl, was being sold to other pack males by her own father. Anastasia hated herself, there was nothing her or her father could do to stop it, Callum was the pack leader and no one could challenge his decision. She walked slowly to the master bedroom, knowing her husband was waiting for her to service him. Anastasia sighed as she approached the door, as her hand rested on the door handle, she thought of her mate...her true mate. A wolf who was not her husband, but that choice was taken away from her a long time ago. As Anastasia opened the door and walked in, she failed to notice Bracken watching her from the shadows.

**Prestant day:**

Everyone opened their eyes and stared at Bracken in shock; Bracken nodded and downed the last of her drink. "Kind of fucked up right?" Bracken asked with a bitter laugh, everyone nodded, unsure of what to say. Bracken poured everyone another drink and lifted hers, "It's in the past, and it was another life. The Bracken I am now is nothing like the Bracken I had to be then. Now I have a loving family, a mate who completes me and every chance in life now my curse has been lifted. I don't have to do any of that stuff ever again; life can be very sweet for me". Everyone knew what Bracken was saying, they were celebrating her new life and the last thing she needed was for them to put a downer on it by being sad for things that happened in the past. Everyone cheered up and started partying, putting everything they had seen behind them and enjoying the music now blasting from the stereo. The boys and Bracken were sat on the sofa's talking and laughing while the girls were by the stereo dancing. Alice looked over and saw Bracken watching her, Alice smiled, knowing that this was the end of one chapter and the start of another... for both Bracken and herself.

**A/N2: ok so who noticed the end of chapter reference**? **I know this is a bit short; it's only 3 pages in word2007. It's kind of a filler chapter really, linking the end of the Bracken the street fighter chapters and on to the next big bad whatever. Plus now were going to spend more time seeing Bracken adjusting to Cullen life instead of it all being about Bracken being abused. There's more action and I want to get into it...and I wanna bring Jake in soon so I need to get on with it. Gonna update sooner. I promise**


	16. the next new problem

**A/N: OK, so I know my last chapter angered some people, my apologies Bracken's story kinda runs in the background, separate but still important. Bracken's story is going to take longer to explain, as certain situations occur in the main story then another chapter of Bracken's past life will be uncovered. I wanted Bracken's life to be full of tragedy because I wanted past experiences to shape the person she is now, her life couldn't have been perfect or she'd still be with the wolves. And Anastasia's lack of protecting her daughter will be explained later on in the story, but trust me when I say that she really didn't have a choice. I had to re-write this chapter to try and make it up to those I've upset, let me know if I did a good job. Hope you guys like it...**

**Chapter Fourteen: The next new problem**

Emmett walked into the living room and looked out of the window to see Bracken standing in the back garden. She was stood with her back to the house, facing the woods. Emmett walked out to stand next to her and stood silent and still next to his sister, they stood there for what seemed like forever before Emmett spoke "sorry your life was so shit". A smile played on the corner of Bracken's lips "sorry you were mauled by a bear, Emmett laughed, a deep booming laugh "of all the things to be sorry about". Bracken laughed with him "could say the same to you", Emmett nodded and the two fell back into comfortable silence, stood next to each other. "But seriously" Emmett said as he turned to face Bracken "I really am sorry. You went through so much and no one helped you, no one saved you". Bracken shook her head "It's not like I was completely abandoned. There were rules that had to be followed with serious consequences", Emmett nodded and urged her to carry on. "Like the volturi, if you break one of their rules you suffer the punishment. Death. Same for the pack, and pretty much everything was punishable by death". Bracken kicked a stone at her feet and carried on "Anastasia would have given her life to protect me, it killed her that she couldn't do anything. But she knew what would happen to me if she died for me...she saw it. Callum would have been worse, he would have blamed me for killing his mate. I would have suffered more at his hands and eventually been killed myself".

"I don't hate her for not stopping them, I've never hated her and I never can. Anastasia's words may seem empty to anyone watching from the outside, but those words gave me strength. I knew someone cared, I knew that I meant something to someone and I wasn't some worthless runt only fit to be used by the other males". Emmett nodded, unable to say anything he just stood there and took in the words his sister spoke. He knew what she was saying. While it was easy for someone on the outside to put the blame on Anastasia and say she was a bad mother, but she did the only thing she could, she was there for Bracken after. They had an understanding, both abused. Bracken looked at Emmett and nodded "Anastasia was abused herself. Her marriage was a mistake that my grandfather couldn't take back, her mate was another". Emmett looked at Bracken in confusion "what do you mean?", Bracken took a deep breath "her marriage was arranged, a deal to join the two families during a time of civil war. In an effort to gain more power and take over, my grandfather joined the Richenski family and the McCanse family together by marrying off his first born daughter with their eldest son."

"Anastasia had met and fell in love with the youngest brother, Daniel, but she was never to marry him. Callum was going to be the one to take over the family, their father was on his death bed and his final act was to decide that Callum was to marry Anastasia. Daniel had to stand and watch as his one true love married his evil, twisted brother. Callum was cruel to everyone, he demanded that Anastasia give him everything he wanted, when he wanted it. If she refused then he would take it by force. He would gladly beat Anastasia if she even disagreed with him in the slightest. He would leave her bloodied and bruised". Emmett froze on the spot as he listened to Bracken explain to him, It made him feel sick to think that any man could think this was OK. Bracken sighed and carried on "the first time it happened, Anastasia burst into the room and attacked Callum's closest friend. I was only 5 at the time, but I remember it all. Callum heard the fighting and came in, he dragged Anastasia out of the room and into their bedroom. Frankie helped me up and we went to the bedroom door to listen, there was so much shouting. Callum beat her nearly to death, as Anastasia laid beaten on the floor he stood over her and said that if she ever stopped one of the males again he would not only kill her but make me suffer for her mistake and then kill me slowly. She knew then that she had no choice, he would do as he threatened".

Emmett and Bracken walked back into the house to find everyone sat around on the chairs, the pair froze and Bracken moved to sit next to Alice "what's wrong?". Carlisle looked at Bracken "we have another problem", Bracken looked at her father in confusion "what do you mean?". ** "**The wolves have noticed another wolf pack, they're in an uproar" Carlisle spoke solemnly, Bracken stood and paced around the room. One wolf pack noticing another would have no affect on a vampire coven, there had to be another reason for Carlisle to be worried. "Dad, how has this got anything to do with us? This is the LaPush wolves business" Bracken said, Carlisle sighed "Bracken, they're blaming us. They think we brought this new pack to Forks... they want to bring the battle to us before dealing with this new wolf pack threat". Emmett stood up "the damn wolves are always blaming us, It's not our fault!", Carlisle stood and walled to Emmett "son, you need to calm down. Getting angry is not going to get us anywhere". Bracken looked around at everyone "we need to go see them, to make them see that this is not our fault...they need to be warned to leave them alone", Edward was the first to speak "we can't go onto the wolves land, we'd break the treaty and we'd be killed on the spot". Bracken looked to Carlisle "dad, old world wolves rule over all other wolves. I still have some of my wolf genes in me, if I go as well I can order them to let you onto tribe land". Carlisle nodded as he got lost in thought "that could work, they would have a natural instinct to follow a more powerful wolf".

Everyone raced over to LaPush, Edward carrying Bella on his back. As they reached the boundary lines, three wolves appeared out of the trees. One went behind a large rock and a few seconds later Sam appeared and walked to stand in front of the Cullens, "none of you are allowed here, turn around and leave". Bracken stepped forward and stood inches from Sam's face "I am Bracken McCanse, descendent of the most powerful clan of old world wolves. Your superior, I order you to allow my new family to walk through your tribe's land. We have business with your elders". Sam looked like he was about to disagree with Bracken's command, but something seamed to be holding back the words. Sam stepped back, clearly angry at having his authority overruled, he stepped to the side and allowed the Cullen's to pass. With the wolf escort, they headed to Jacobs house. As Billy exited the house and stopped in front of the Cullen's, Carlisle stepped forward. "Billy, we have heard that your tribe have placed the blame of a new wolf pack arriving on us. I assure you that this is not the case and we are in fact as worried as you are by their arrival".

Billy looked at Bracken for a second and the back to Carlisle "you have one of the wolves in your pressance right now, how can we not feel that it is connected to you". Carlisle nodded "that is true, but Bracken is no longer part of the pack. We rescued her and if you may notice, she is now a new species, a werevamp". Esme spoke up "Bracken is our child now, she has no connection to them any more They are as much a threat to us as they are to you, more to us in fact". As the adults were talking about the situation, Bracken turned her head to look at Sam. Everyone stopped talking as Bracken growled loudly and pounced on Sam, pinning him against a large rock. The other wolves growled and as they were about to spring into action to protect Sam, Carlisle and Emmett jumped onto Bracken, pulling her off and struggling to pull her back as she snaps and snarls at Sam. Swiping her arms at him, trying to reach, Bracken struggled against their grasp. As Bracken and Emmett held Bracken, Alice stood in front of her and calmed her down. Bracken stopped struggling and stood still, Carlisle, who looked confused at her daughter's outburst turned to Billy. The two agreed that there would be no conflict between the Cullen's and the wolves over this and that the new pack would be watched closely by both.

As they got back to the house, Alice looked worriedly at bracken "what the hell was that?". Bracken walked to the window and looked out "you won't like it but I had to", Esme stepped forward "you had to do no such thing, what you did was wrong!". Bracken turned quickly "what Sam has planned is wrong!", Bella stepped forward and spoke calmly "what do you mean by what Sam has planned?". Bracken turned back to the window and sighed "the tribe elders have no idea, but Sam has a plan to wipe us all out. A plan involving Jacob". "what plan" Bella asked, even though she had an idea where it was going. Bracken turned to look at only Bella "they're using the fact that Jake is in love with you to lure you away from Edward. They're hoping that Edward will go onto tribe land in a bid to get himself killed and break the treaty...that way they can kill us all". Everyone looked at each other as they took in Bracken's words. Not only do they have to worry about Bracken's old pack, they now had to worry about the LaPush wolves as well.

**A/N2: OK, that took forever to write. I now completely understand why writers take forever to update chapters. It's not easy to write this story, work on my novel and keep my house running all at the same time. I hope that the bit at the start ****helps everyone understand why Anastasia let the abuse of Bracken carry on. She had a choice to make and she chose the lesser of two evils. And remember everyone, Bracken's past will help her later on. Trust me. I have a plan. I'll try and update quicker next time, but I can't promise. Review please, it was the review of one of the readers that helped shape this chapter. You know who you are. I take all suggestions seriously and will use them to shape the next chapters, so please review. Love you all!**


	17. What can i do?

**A/N: I tried to get this chapter up quicker. OK, so first thing's first, shout outs. Here's my list of thank you's...**

**MissAlyssaCullen – my first review ever, thank you so much for that!**

**Aurike- you only reviewed once, but your words meant a lot to me when I first started out.**

**Pure Angel Eyes- 6 REVIEWS! the most reviews of one reader. Thanks so much, your words were always kind. I love how my story touches you so deeply, that's what I wanted to do.**

**Twihard0117- I love how you think my story is unique. Thank you.**

**Shadowcub- you actually shaped my last chapter. I changed the layout of it because of your review. Proof that reviews have an impact.**

**Verseseven- thank you for the comments on the back story. It was kinda experimental.**

**Azrael8919- my latest reviewer. Hopefully I will get more reviews. I take everyone's words to heart and try to shape my story to please everyone. Thank you**

**and lastly to the anonymous reviewers. Thank you for your input as well. I hope everyone likes this chapter...IT'S ALL FOR YOU!**

**Chapter Fifteen: What else can I do?**

Everyone stood still in shock, Sam was going over the tribe elders heads and trying to start a war with the Cullens. No one knew how this was going to end exactly, but they knew it would end badly. Emmett was the first to speak "we gotta get this shit sorted out!", Esme shot Emmett an angry look and he instantly hung his head. Bracken stood, looking lost in thought. "we do though!" Rose added, coming to Emmett's defence. "we need to come to a peaceful solution to all this. War with the wolves is not the answer" Carlisle said stepping in, "no, but kicking their asses is the answer" Emmett threw back at their father. As everyone else joined in the argument, throwing their ideas in. no one was watching Bracken. Except Jasper. Jasper watched Bracken closely as he read her emotions, he could feel she was lost in thought. He could feel her fear, confusion, anger... determination. Finally, Bracken found her voice "Emmett's right". Everyone stopped arguing to look at Bracken in confusion, "what the hell?" Bella asked. Bracken continued "well, not about kicking the wolves asses. But he is right about kicking someone's asses". "Oh will you be a bit clearer" Edward said out of frustration, Bracken looked at her brother as her voice dropped to barely a whisper "the pack". Everyone looked at Bracken in shock, she couldn't be suggesting what they think she was suggesting. "your saying we have to take on the pack?" Bella asked, Bracken shook her head "no I'm not saying that...I have to". Alice held her hand over her mouth as she gasped "no you can't!". Bracken shrugged "yeah I can, I have to", everyone looked at Bracken in shock and disbelief.

Carlisle stepped forward and placed his hand on Bracken's shoulder "please Bracken, think about what your saying. Your talking about taking on your old pack". Bracken looked at her father and nodded "yes father, I do know what I'm saying. I'm talking about ending all of this once and for all". Esme looked at bracken in despair, she knew that to allow her youngest daughter to go up against her old pack was to allow her daughter to die. She would not and could not let that happen, she would not lose a child. "you cannot do this Bracken, you cannot take on all of them and live" Esme pleaded "think about this please". Bracken sighed and headed to the stairs "I have thought about this, while you all were arguing I was doing nothing but thinking. This is my mess and I have to be the one to sort it out, I can't let anyone else take that risk for me", Esme let out a quiet sob and hid her face in Carlisle's chest as Bracken walked up the stairs to her room. Everyone stood around in silence, unable to think of anything to say to make the situation better. They all knew this was a suicide mission, but no one could get through to Bracken. Jasper walked to the stairs, as he started to climb them he said quietly over his shoulder "let me deal with this". Jasper stood outside the bedroom door and closed his eyes, he could already feel strong emotions leaking through the cracks. Opening the door slowly he was nearly knocked to his knees by how powerful Bracken's emotions were, Despair, guilt, anger and sadness filled the room and pushed Jasper backwards away from the room. Jasper fought with everything in him to close his mind to those feelings and walked slowly into the room. Stood looking out of the full length window was Bracken, even with her back to Jasper, he knew she was not happy.

"Bracken, you have to know from a strategic position, what you are planning is suicide" Jasper spoke. Bracken nodded silently so jasper carried on "but your planning on it anyway", Bracken stood silently for so long Jasper thought she was not going to speak. Finally she spoke, her voice barely a whisper "I know what I'm planning is stupid, I know that I'm going to die. But I have to". Jasper watched Bracken closely, she refused to turn away from the window. Jasper knew Bracken was scared, he could feel her every emotion, but he also knew she couldn't see any other way out of this. Finally, after what seamed like an eternity, Bracken turned to face Jasper. Jasper could finally see the pain and sadness in the young wolf's eyes, a pain so bad it nearly broke Jasper's undead heart. Bracken walked to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, her eyes on the floor and whispered "I don't want anyone to die along side me, you've all done so much for me already". Jasper sat next to her on the bed and rested his hand on her shoulder "we did what we needed to do to save you, your a Cullen now. Your one of us", Bracken shook her head "how can you be so close to me? I took your mate from you". Jasper laughed and smiled "Alice wasn't my mate, we thought we were but it was obvious when she fell for you. You two belong together", Bracken looked at jasper in disbelief "but you weren't even upset when we told you". Jasper shrugged "Alice does what Alice wants to do, there's nothing I can do to change her mind. Besides, I only want her to be happy. She's happy with you"

Jasper stood up and held his hand out to Bracken "there's another way to solve all this, lets go back downstairs and we can deal with this... as a family". Bracken smiled and took Jasper's hand, following her brother downstairs. Everyone was sat on the sofas in silence, worry for Bracken hovering around all of them like a thick cloud. Bracken moved to sit next to Alice, who instinctively lent against Bracken and nuzzled her. Jasper went to stand next to Carlisle, everyone wanted for Carlisle to speak. Finally, he stood and addressed the family "something has to be done about this situation, we will not allow one of our own to walk into certain death alone. We will discuss this as a family and find a solution to all of this". "The only way to deal with them is for one of the bloodline to challenge the Alpha" Bracken said, Alice sat up straight in shock "you mean, you have to". Bracken nodded "I am one of the bloodline, none of the others will fight for me. If we try to take them all on then the entire family on both sides will join in... It'll be an all out war". "not like we mind that" Emmett said loudly as he jumped to his feet, Rose sighed "sit down Emmett". Edward spoke up "In a way Bracken's right, an all out war is not what we need. These wolves are bigger than the LaPush ones and we haven't got the time to get enough back up before they try dealing with things themselves".

As everyone got lost in conversation, trying to find a solution Bracken seemed to fall into yet another silence. Everyone watched Bracken in worry, finally after a few minutes, everyone noticed a smile forming on Bracken's lips. "I've found a solution, it's risky, but it'll work" she said as she looked around at everyone, everyone stood waiting patiently for her to speak. Bracken looked around "we go there and I challenge Sandy, he's the next in line and he'd love a chance to finish me off", Alice stood up quickly and looked at bracken in shock "but that's the same plan you had before!". Bracken stood "no it's not, I was just going to go there before. This time, we all go. They're bound by rules, Callum's obsessed with them. He'd never turn from a challenge, he'd make sure no one else went for us. Sandy would want to be the one to finish me off, you'd all be kept safe while I fought. The prize for winning would be that they leave immediately and never return to forks". Carlisle smiled "that could actually work Bracken, they would underestimate you. Not knowing about your new status as a werevamp would help you, being bound by the rules will work to our advantage". Edward nodded "our gifts will all help as well, we'll know what everyone is thinking, feeling and we'll be able to see any decisions made", Jasper smiled at Bracken. Jasper knew this would happen, It was like he had the ability so see into the future instead of Alice.

Alice sat down on the sofa and stared straight ahead, trying to get her head around the idea. As everyone sat down to work out the details of the plan, Bella sat down next to Alice. An understanding smile was all that was needed and Alice moved closer to her best friend and adopted sister, neither could understand everyone's excitement at the idea of Bracken walking off to her death. _Edward please, you can't let her do this. You can't let her die _Alice pleaded silently, Edward glanced briefly at Alice and shrugged. Alice looked at Edward with desperation in her eyes, someone had to be on her side. She wouldn't allow her mate to walk off to her own death so willingly, she would do anything to stop her. The plan was finalised, and everyone went off to spend some time alone together before they moved out. Bracken walked over to Alice and smiled softly at her "I know your worried about me, but please don't be", Alice looked up and shook her head "you ask me not to be worried about you, how can I not?". Bracken sighed "Alice, It may have been a few months since I've been in the pack, but I still remember the rules. I still know how to use them against the pack". Alice stood and moved to stand in front of Bracken "I will still worry about you, I'll always worry about you", Bracken nodded and pulled Alice to her. They stood like that for what seemed like hours, Bracken holding Alice, not saying anything. Finally, everyone entered the room and stood around the two. Bracken looked at Carlisle, still holding Alice "It's time". Carlisle nodded "It's time", "lets go hunt some wolves" Emmett said as he rubbed his hands together. Rose slapped Emmett over the head "this is not something to get excited about, this is serious now", Emmett hung his head "sorry Rose, but I have to find the good in all this". Bracken looked around at everyone "this is serious, we need to remember what we're about to. None of this is going to be fun, I can't 100% guarantee your safety. If I do die, Callum can decide not to honour the agreement". Jasper stepped forward and placed his hand on Bracken's shoulder "we know what we're getting ourselves into, we know the risks already. Your one of us, we always protect our own". Carlisle nodded "This is what family do, our only concern is making sure all of us survive this... and I mean all of us"

**A/N2: OK, sorry for the wait. I never really have the time for writing, I try my best to set some time aside for it but then something always happens and the plans go out the window. I hope you like where the story is going, I'm trying to hurry stuff along and still keep the action going. I have a big idea for Bracken and Alice but I don't want the story to be like 50 chapters long, so I'm cutting out everything that's not that important and sticking to the big stuff. Any comments, questions and most importantly problems, let me know. I want to know that all my readers are happy, plus like I've said a million times now I write my story with you guys in mind. I think about what you all say you want or don't want.**


	18. i have a proposition

**A/N: the first day I post the last chapter I get two reviews, how cool is that? Thanks pureangeleyes and shadowcub, you two are awesome. It's like I have my own cheerleader and advisor in the two of them. I've worked round the clock to try and get this chapter out. Half the time it's like Bracken's alive in my head, and right now she's not happy that I'm dragging my heels.**

Chapter sixteen: I have a proposition

Bella waited at the house as everyone raced off, no one was willing to risk Bella's safety. Bracken led the group, as the only one who knew where the manor was. Edward and Emmett followed close behind, Carlisle, Esme and Rosalie spread out to the sides with Alice and Jasper bringing up the rear. The run through the woods was one filled with caution; everyone was on high alert knowing that there could be more of the pack in the area. No one had been watching them and so Callum could have anything planned and none of them would know. Finally after a long run, they arrived at the edge of the grounds surrounding the manor. The semi dilapidated manor house stood in a clearing, surrounded by dead trees and creepy looking willows. As bracken looked at her old home, she realised she was actually waiting for the old organ music to start playing and lightning to start striking. Bracken held back a little giggle, Emmett looked at her with a frown "oh right, you can find this funny but I can't?" he whispered. Bracken smiled and played her image into everyone's minds, 7 vampires quietly giggled next to her. Bracken stood up and confidently started walking to the manor; the Cullen's followed behind, spread out in a v shape behind her. As they neared the front door, Callum appeared in the doorway, flanked by Sandy, Romulus and Remus. "Your dead" Callum said in disbelief, Bracken shrugged "Sandy left me for dead, I was found just in time". Callum cast an angry glare at Sandy "you said she was dead, I believed she was", Sandy froze in shock "she… there was…no one could have saved her".

"Look, I'm offering you a chance to finish what you started" Bracken said, drawing attention back to her. Callum laughed "so you come here with some vampires and expect what? For us to just bow to you? Your nothing but a pack whore, a little runt who's good for nothing", Bracken looked into the eyes of the man who was once her father and realised… she felt nothing. No fear, sadness, anger…. Nothing but pity. "No Callum, I don't expect anything from you. I come here only to offer you a challenge" Bracken said, "enough of this father, let's just kill them all" Sandy cut in. Callum held up his hand in front of Sandy "quiet, you failed at your task. What is this challenge?", Bracken nodded "I offer Sandy the chance to finish what he started, the chance to kill me. A fight to the death". The idea intrigued Callum "What if we lose?"

"You leave Forks forever, my new family is safe from harm and none from the pack shall return" Bracken said

Callum nodded "If we win?"

Bracken stared her father in the eyes "you kill me, but my family is safe either way"

Callum thought for a minute, finally he nodded "you have my word, in exchange for a fight to the death, no harm will come to your new family".

Callum walked into the house, followed by his sons, leaving Bracken and the Cullen's on the doorstep. Bracken nodded to everyone and they all walked in, ready to meet their fate. As they walked down into the cellar, wolves surrounded them, it looked like the entire pack was there but Bracken knew it was only the tip of the iceberg. The cellar had been opened up from one side of the foundations to the other, the large expanse was dimly lit with candelabras stood all around the edges. Three thrones stood on a platform against one wall, the middle one was the largest while the ones on either side were slightly smaller. Bracken knew exactly who those were for and she wasn't happy they would be here to see this. Bracken walked to the middle of the floor while the rest of the Cullens stood around the edges, Sandy joined Bracken in the middle of the room with Romulus and Remus stood on the edge opposite. Bracken stood still, watching her ex brother pace back and forth. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed and everyone went silent. Callum walked into the room, followed silently by Anastasia and Cubby. Bracken watched in shock as the three of them sat on the thrones, Callum looked at everyone once before speaking out in a loud commanding voice "Sandy will fight Bracken in a fight to the death. No one will intervene and only one will be victorious". He nodded to Romulus who closed his eyes for a moment, the Cullens wondered what the hell was going on.

Bracken cast one quick glance at Alice and smiled at her as Sandy started circling Bracken, attempting to intimidate the younger wolf. Alice looked around and gasped as she saw more wolves walk down the steps and fill the room, watching from the shadows. She looked up at Carlisle who looked around and nodded, a sense of worry fell down over the Cullen's. This situation seemed to be getting worse by the second. Sandy continued to pace in front of Bracken, his lips pulling back into a snarl. His razor sharp canines shining menacingly in the dim light, he dropped to a feral crouch and roared loudly. Bracken brought one leg behind her and dropped into her own crouch, her mind going straight into survival mode. Sandy leapt forward and phased into wolf form mid jump, landing 2 feet away from Bracken. Bracken leapt back and gaining enough distance from Sandy; phased herself. The wolves all gasped as they saw the size difference between the two wolves, Bracken had now grown a full 2 foot taller than Sandy in wolf form. The two wolves snarled and snapped at each other and Sandy leapt forward, knocking Bracken onto her side. Everyone watched as the two wolves bit and tore at each other, hitting each other with giant paws. Emmett growled as Bracken stumbled around the floor, bloodied and beaten. Before Rose had a chance to stop him, he charged towards the two fighters. Just as he reached the edge of the floor he suddenly stopped like he had ran into a brick wall and was thrown backwards, hitting the floor with a loud thud. He sat up and looked around in a daze as he rubbed the back of his head, "what the hell happened?" Emmett moaned as he looked around in a daze. Edward looked over to Romulus "It's him, he has intense mental powers. He's put up a mental block around the whole area, no one can get in or out". Rosalie looked in shock "so Bracken can't get out?", Edward nodded grimly "there's only one way out of it".

Bracken limped around Sandy as he watched with a smug smile, she feebly dodged every attack from him. Callum sat on his throne and watched with a satisfied smile as his eldest son attempted to kill his daughter, he looked down at Cubby who sat still as a statue, trying not to show any emotion. Bracken pulled back and kept a distance between her and Sandy, as Sandy stalked towards her with a smug victorious smile plastered onto his face, Bracken smiled back. Sandy's look changed to one of confusion as Bracken danced around him, suddenly looking more alive than she did a few minutes ago. She dodged the attacks with greater ease and even got a few hits in herself. With a great roar, Bracken bit into Sandy's left shoulder and took out a chunk of flesh. As Sandy howled in pain she quickly attacked, biting his legs and any other part she could get. Pulling him onto the ground she leant over him and opening her mouth wider to expose her razor sharp canines, bit into his chest and tore out his heart. Bracken chewed it and swallowed what was left. Callum stood and roared with anger, running at his daughter he changed mid jump, landing as a full sized wolf. Bracken straightened herself and faced her ex father, the two circled slowly, watching for each weakness. Callum charged and Bracken rolled onto her back, flipping him over her as well. The two with everything they had him them, for very different reasons. Callum was fighting for revenge and Bracken was fighting to free the ones she loved from the beast that tormented her life or 180 years.

After the fight went on for a while with both of them getting their fair share of injuries, Callum took one final leap at Bracken. Bracken twisted her body at the last second and as Callum landed on his feet next to her, ripped his head off with one bite. Bracken threw the head as she tore it off and it slid across the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind it. All the wolves stood still in silence as Bracken changed back to human form and limped over towards the thrones. Romulus lowered the barrier and both he and Remus moved to stand next to the platform. Bracken stood in front of Cubby and knelt, lowering her head at the same time. Everyone gasped as the new alpha was picked, a wolf cub of only 100 had never been picked to lead a pack before. Remus smiled and nodded as Bracken stood up, as Remus moved Cubby to his new rightful place on the largest centre throne. "We will stand by our word and leave forks, first thing in the morning we will leave and return to Russia" Remus said, Romulus nodded "we will also assist Cubby in his duties and teach him to be a leader". Bracken shook her head "no, Cubby is the new generation. He will teach you to be better wolves, he will make changes to the pack and alter the course of everything". Cubby smiled and jumped into Bracken's arms "thank you, I''ll make you proud" he whispered, Bracken nodded and lowered her brother back into his seat. With one final smile and nod she and the Cullens left the manor and started on their trip home.

As everyone relived the series of events to Bella who listened intently to every word, Bracken stood looking out of the window into the back garden. Emmett moved to stand next to his sister "that was some fight", Bracken nodded "It was". Emmett smiled "I thought you were going to lose at one point, I tried to get in there to help you", Bracken turned her head and looked at him in mock surprise "you doubted me?". Emmett laughed and nodded "you looked messed up, you kinda still do", Bracken nodded and went back to looking out of the window. "So it's all over now? Nothing else is Gonna try to kill me?" Bella asked, Carlisle nodded "but we still have the LaPush wolves to deal with, that could be a dangerous situation". Everyone nodded as they realised that their problems were still a long way from over, there was still more threats to deal with. Even thought she had to kill the man who was once her father and the man who was once her brother, she felt a sense of peace, of closure. Now she could finally feel like she belongs somewhere without any worrying in the back of her mind. The days of dealing with things on her own, of taking on everyone's responsibilities were over. They would deal with the LaPush wolves as a family, they would deal with every new problem as a family. As Bracken listened to the family talking about what to do with the wolves, she smiled. She knew that together they could all handle anything.

**A/N2: Well that took longer than I thought to do that. The end isn't as good as I was hoping to make it and I had to cut it shorter than I wanted because I was up all night and exhausted. I hope everyone likes it and I promise to make the next chapter longer, I just need to try and think of what's going to happen. Any suggestions? Let me know please….and reviews**


	19. So dogs can plot too?

**A/N: This took longer to write because I had the main plot worked out in my head but the actual plot has kinda gone off track…. So time for a rewrite! Hope everyone likes this, I really don't know how this is going to play out now. So seriously everyone, I need suggestions here. This is the time when you lot can help me write this thing.**

**Chapter Seventeen: So dogs can plot too?**

Everything seemed quiet… to quiet. The LaPush wolves hadn't made any kind of move and it had been two weeks since Bracken had taken on Callum and Sandy. Everyone relaxed into normal routine, Carlisle went back to working at the hospital, Emmett and Rosalie went back to discussing where they would travel to next. Jasper, Edward, Bella and Alice went back to discussing what college they were going to apply to. Bracken pushed college brochures around the table, Bracken picked up one and sighed "I want to study medicine". Bella slid one brochure across the table "the University of Alaska does medicine, we could all go together. Bracken picked up the brochure and read it, Bella giggled "I can just imagine you two studying medicine" she said as she looked at Bracken and Edward. Alice nodded "they'll be fighting to be top of the class", Jasper joined in the joking "the first medical course to have two vampires". Bracken shrugged "I'd be top of the class, Edward would be second", Edward shook his head "not a chance, I've been studying medicine in my spare time for nearly 100 years now". Bella laughed "yeah ok, well enough of all this competition, lets back to our applications", Bracken sighed "we can't go anywhere until we get the whole LaPush situation sorted out". The 5 of them sat in silence; they knew that they were a long way off going to college and getting back to normal. Bella stood up "I'll be right back", Edward watched as Bella walked to the door "where are you going?" Bella looked over her shoulder "I won't be long", Bracken, Alice and Jasper shrugged and went back to their applications.

Bella knocked on the study door and walked in; Carlisle looked up from his paperwork and smiled "what can I do for you Bella?" Bella sat down and sighed "someone needs to deal with Sam's pack; I think it should be me". Carlisle sat back and looked thoughtful "you mean someone who is on good terms with the pack. That could work better than anything we could try", Bella nodded "Jacob won't know what Sam has planned, if I talk to Jake he might be able to get the council to stop it". Carlisle nodded and lent forward "I agree, you have my support", Bella nodded and stood up "Edward's gonna try and stop me though, he says the wolves are unpredictable". Carlisle smiled as he went back to his paperwork "leave Edward to me, good thinking Bella", Bella smiled as she left the room. Bracken had done so much to help the family recently; every new problem was solved by Bracken. This was Bella's chance to return the same kindness; she went back to the room and sat back in her seat. Edward looked at her curiously; Bella smiled sweetly and kissed his cheek. Edward saw Alice smile and huffed in frustration, Bracken slipped into Bella's mind and smiled. "Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on? Edward shouted in anger, "Edward, I want to see you in my office" Carlisle's voice was heard by everyone but Bella. Edward got up and walked out without saying a word. Bella looked at the closing door in confusion; Alice smiled "Carlisle is going to explain to Edward what's going on".

Edward walked into the room and sat in the chair opposite Carlisle; Carlisle looked up from his paperwork and focused on Edward. The silence in the room was almost maddening to Edward; finally after what seemed like hours but was really only seconds, Carlisle spoke. "Bella brought to my attention something that I agree with" Carlisle spoke; Edward knew straight away from Carlisle's business tone that there was to be no debate. Carlisle was in full father mode; Edward nodded and gave Carlisle his full attention. Carlisle carried on "she mentioned that the situation with the pack would be better dealt with if someone close to them talked to them. Someone who represents those they were created to protect… a human". Edwards eyes widened with shock "no! I will not allow this!" Carlisle sat back in his chair "think about it Edward, she knows Jacob, if she tells him he can get the council involved". Edward shook his head "I will not allow Bella to risk her life in this way, we will sort something out", Carlisle sighed "I was hoping I wouldn't have to make this an order but I will if I have to". Edward growled "just so you know, I'm not happy about this and if anything happens to Bella then I'll blame you"; Carlisle nodded "I understand". Edward stood and with a quick bow of his head, left the room. Carlisle sighed and attempted to go back to his paperwork, he knew the risks of what Bella had planned. None of it sat perfectly with him but he understood that Bella had to do this, and so he trusted her decision. Carlisle took a deep breath and went back to his paperwork, happy that there would be no disruptions.

Everyone was briefed about the plan and agreed that Bella should be able to at least have a chance to solve this before it turned into a full blown crisis. Edward made his point very clear and was put back in his place by everyone very quickly. After a family vote, it was clear that everyone was fully supportive and the plan was going to go ahead. Edward drove Bella home, the ride was deathly quiet. As Edward pulled up to Bella's house and turned off the engine, she turned to him "why don't you trust me?" she whispered. Edward kept facing forward so Bella spoke louder "why don't you trust me?" Edward sighed "I do trust you, but I don't trust them". Bella shook her head "your wrong, they won't do that to me…Jake won't", Edward sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose "Alice can't see you when you're there, we cannot cross the treaty". Bella opened the door and stepped out "I'm doing this, with or without your support" she said as she closed the door. Bella walked into the house, said a quick help to her dad, announced she was tired and going to bed and went upstairs. She shut the door and laid down on the bed, she grabbed a pillow, covered her face and screamed into it. Bella loved Edward with all her heart, but he infuriated her sometimes. Bella went to her bathroom and got ready for bed, dressing in sweats and a tank top. Bella climbed into bed and waited until sleep took her.

Bella rang Jake's number first thing in the morning, he answered on the second ring "hello?" came his croaky voice. "Hey Jake" Bella said "I'm coming over, I need to talk to you", "sure thing, come right over" Jake said in a brighter tone. Bella hung up and jumped into her truck, she decided that she was going to deal with this today and if Jake didn't listen to Bella then they would find some other way to deal with this. Bella pulled up outside Jake's house and walked right up to the front door, she knocked on the door loudly and Jake answered with a huge smile on his face. The other wolves looked over his shoulder at Bella, Sam was glaring at her. Bella looked nervously over her shoulder for a second before dragging her gaze back to Jake "I need to talk to you…outside" she whispered. Jake nodded and followed her round to the shed at the back of the house, "ok, what's all this about?" Jake asked. Bella looked around nervously, folding her arms over her chest and rubbed her upper arms. Jake watched her fidgeting and smiled reassuringly at her "tell me Bella", Bella sighed "Jake, Sam is planning on using you to break the treaty". Jake looked at her in shock for a few seconds before he finally found his voice "what…how?" he stuttered, Bella stopped fidgeting and lent against the wall "by making me fall in love with you. The theory is that Edward would get so depressed he'd cross the treaty line and start a war". Jake shook his head, disbelief filling every fibre of his being. After a minute he slowly stopped shaking his head and stood staring at Bella, "I'm sorry Jake; could you please talk to the council? We need them to stop Sam from going through with it" she whispered.

Jake blinked a few times and nodded "sure, sure I'll talk to them" he said, Bella smiled and hugged him tightly "thank you Jake, thank you so much" she said into his chest. Jake smiled as his arms wrapped tightly around her small frame "I can't promise anything but I'll try my best to stop it" he spoke softly. Bella smiled "as long as you try, that's all I'm asking" she whispered. Jake smiled at her and the two stood in each other's embrace, neither wanting to break the peaceful silence that fell over them like a comforting blanket. Finally after what seemed like forever, Jake coughed "we uh…we better get back…if I'm going to talk to the council". Bella blushed and nodded "yeah, we better go", as they walked back round to the front of the house and started to separate, Sam stood at the front door and watched Bella. Bella felt her blood run cold as he glared at her, Jake felt her body stiffen and looked to see what was wrong. He saw Sam and he realised she was telling the truth, he glared back at Sam and growled quietly. Hugging Bella he whispered "don't worry, I'll do whatever I have to", Bella smiled and kissed his cheek as she climbed into her truck and started the engine. Jake walked up to Sam and stopped next to him "I know what your plan is, I'm going to do whatever I have to do to stop you" he whispered. Sam smirked as Jake stormed past him into the house; Sam was so sure the council would never listen to Jake. Jake stood in front of the council and looked around at each one of them before clearing his throat, "I've been told about a plan to start a war with the Cullens" he announced. Billy shook his head "and what is this plan?" he said to his son, Jake cast a glance at Sam who stared at him "A plan created by Sam" Jake said.

"That's not true!" shouted quil's grandfather, "It's is! He pretty much admitted it himself!" Jake shouted. Billy looked at his son and shook his head "no one in this pack would even dream of breaking the treaty first", Jake growled as he started to tremble "your all blind!" he shouted. Anger started rising in him as the council leaders all started doubting him, "Jake, we would know if anything was going to happen, Sam runs everything by us. We're not the ones most likely to break the treaty" Billy said in a tone that was full of pity for his son, everyone was sure that Jake had been sucked in. Jake turned to Sam and growled "if you do anything to cause a war with the Cullens I'll come after you myself!" he shouted, "looks like someone's sucked in by the blood suckers" Sam said in a smug voice. Jake walked up to Sam and backed him against the wall "I made a promise to a friend" Jake growled. Sam stood taller than Jake as he glared down at him "as the alpha I'm commanding…" he started, "your commanding nothing! I don't have to listen to you!" Jake roared as his anger over took him. Sam's eyes widened in shock as Jake stood up to him, no member of the wolf pack could ever stand up to the Alpha. Jake stood glaring at Sam as his whole body trembled; Quil and Embry grabbed Jake and dragged him outside. Billy rolled his wheelchair to the doorway and watched his son running off into the woods as he shifted to wolf form, Quil and Embry took a look at Billy before shifting themselves and ran off after Jake.

Sam stood next to Billy and watched the line of trees that Jake had broken though just 2 minutes before, Billy looked up at Sam "Jake has never acted like that before, was he telling the truth?" he asked. Sam carried on looking at the trees "sometimes we have to do something drastic to get the job done" he said quietly, It Billy all of 2 seconds to find the hidden meaning in that statement. "I'll be telling the rest of the council about this, they'll stop you" Billy said as he started to roll his wheelchair back into the house, Sam shook his head "the council do whatever I suggest, we have to stop the blood suckers" he said as he grabbed the handle of the wheelchair. Billy looked over his shoulder "what happened to you Sam? You were a nice boy; we all had hopes for you. You were supposed to lead the new pack, but not like this". Sam walked down the porch steps "we get rid of the Cullens and there will be no need for the pack, we have a duty to the people of Forks as well as our own". "Not like this, not by using my son's heart. You'll destroy him" Billy pleaded, Sam paused for a second "sacrifice one for the benefit of the many" he said as he walked off into the woods.

Bella looked at her mobile phone and sighed, Jake still hadn't rung her. "Bella, stop watching the phone, he'll ring when he rings" Alice said as she watched her best friend. Bella sighed "he was supposed to ring me after the council meeting, we need to know what's been decided", "whatever happens, happens. Right now we have no control" Carlisle said in a reassuring tone. Emmett sat next to Bella and pulled her into a hug "little sis, you need to chill. Jake is gonna try his best, the dog may get lucky", everyone stopped talking as they heard a low howl. Everyone rushed outside and saw a large russet coloured wolf jogging out of the trees, Edward stepped forward and the wolf stopped 2 feet away from him. Bella watched as Edward seemed to be staring at the wolf, after a few minutes Edward turned to face everyone "Jake said he's sorry Bella, he tried his best". Bella stepped forward and stroked behind Jake's ear "its ok Jake, you tried your best. How are they going to convince me to love you?" she whispered, Edward watched Jake for a minute "he doesn't know, but the council don't believe Sam is planning something behind their back. The wolves can do whatever they want" Edward said for Jake. Bella thanked Jake and the large wolf nodded once and ran off into the woods.

Everyone looked at each other with dread; none of this was playing out as they had all hoped. "Looks like we need to start planning, could be an all-out fight" Emmett said as they all took seats in the living room, Edward pulled Bella onto his lap as she nuzzled into his neck. Alice cuddled into Bracken's side and wrapped her arms around her neck; Bracken wrapped her arms protectively around her. Everyone else stood around silently, no one wanted to speak first. "I should be here anymore" Bracken muttered, Alice pulled away and looked at Bracken in panic "no! No you're not going anywhere!" she shouted as she shook her head. "Well think about it, all the trouble I've brought on you all just from coming to Forks. Now the pack is gone and never coming back I can leave and start a new life somewhere else" Bracken rationalised, Alice stood and paced frantically "I don't care! You're not going anywhere, you belong here with us!" she screamed. Esme moved forward and Pulled Bracken up off the sofa "you're our child now Bracken, our daughter. You're staying here with us for all eternity, we love you" Esme said as she pulled Bracken into a hug. Carlisle walked up to them and wrapped his arms around both of them holding them close to him "whatever happens to this family will be dealt with as a family". "Looks like we need to get ready for a fight" Emmett said as he punched his left fist into his right hand, "no one's happy about this Emmett" Edward warned him.

"Well what are we gonna do now? They know our plan" Leah said as she paced back and forth, Sam sat down on a hollowed log on the sand "we attack, the council won't stop us" he said. Quil stood up quickly "we can't! Jake said if we do anything to the Cullen's he'll fight us. We can't fight our brother over this", Seth sat next to Embry with his head down. Sam looked at Seth "you better be with us Seth, this is the time you need to pick your loyalties", Seth looked up and nodded quickly "yes Sam". Leah smiled "looks like the blood suckers are gonna get what they deserve", Embry nodded "whatever we do we can't include Jake, he'll tell the vampire girl who'll go running to the leeches". Sam stood and looked around at everyone "well that's decided, what we plan will not be discussed with Jake" they all nodded in agreement. Jake was too much of a risk to the pack's plan.

**A/N2: wow, I got that one out a day earlier than I planned. I'm gonna try and get each chapter done in a week from now on, we're getting close to the home stretch now. I'm kinda running out on ideas now, I have the ending worked out but the stuff in between isn't there anymore. Really need some help people so reviews are welcome and needed. Big love and cookies to everyone! **


	20. The Wolf Rebellion

**A/N: Thanks to Shadowcub I have an awesome idea for the story now, I know how I'm going to deal with this and I have the best ending and sequel ever! Thanks Shadowcub, I owe you one. I hope I don't offend any fans of the wolf pack with this chapter….or the next chapter…..or the ending. Well anyway, on with the show**

Chapter eighteen: The wolf rebellion

Bracken sat at her desk and turned on her laptop, the laptop whirred as it sprang to life. The welcome message and wallpaper of the family made Bracken smile, she knew her old pack was doing great without her and she was happy as a Cullen. Bracken opened up her word processer and sat back in her chair, there was so much to write she had no idea where to start. Finally after a few minutes she sat forward and started typing….

_Dear diary_

_Where to begin? So much has happened recently, it's kinda been crazy here. Well, my old pack's gone, packed up the next day like they promised. I kinda miss Cubby but they had to go, wherever they've gone to I know they're happy. Ok, so they moved on but then the wolves down at LaPush decide they want to give us a hard time. They haven't done anything just yet, we're all sat here waiting for them to strike…I think that's their plan, make us go crazy waiting. Well, we got sick of waiting for them so Edward decided to propose to Bella. We planned the wedding, had the wedding and they've gone on honeymoon. You'd think this was our happily ever after right? Well dear diary, you're all wrong. Ok, so while on their honeymoon, they decide to finally "do it". Only Bella got pregnant, she rang Rose up freaking out. Apparently Edward was so sure the baby was gonna end up killing Bella somehow, well they got off the plane and we were all there waiting. Rose pulled Bella to her and hasn't left her side since; Bella's got pretty weak though. Looks like the baby really is killing Bella, guess Edward was right after all. _

_Ok, so where was I? Oh yeah, Bella's getting sicker by the day. Jake's here all the time since he left his pack, got right in Sam's face about how he was using the baby as an excuse to wipe all of us out. He did this whole "Ephram Black's son was not born to follow Levi Uley's" thing; apparently he put Sam right in his place and ran off. Since then, he's been patrolling the edge of the grounds constantly. Kinda strange really, I can see him running now. _

Bracken sat back in her chair and looked out the window; Jake made his fiftieth lap of the day past Bracken's window. Bracken stretched and scratched her head, neither of these movements was really needed….just a force of habit. She went back to the laptop and carried on typing…

_Ok, so….oh yeah, Jake's been kinda like the family guard dog. Takes the attention away from me, which I'm kinda glad for. He's been winding up Rose to no end; she even bent a metal bowl to look like a dog bowl. Carved his name on it and everything! So here we are now, Bella's not really far along but looks like she's nearly ready to pop the kid out and we're waiting for the wolf pack to attack or something. _

_I just wish they'd do something already…_

Bracken saved and turned off the computer, stood up and walked downstairs. Everyone was kinda antsy and you could cut the tension in the air with a knife, Bella occupied the living room with everyone edging around her. Bracken grabbed two Xbox controllers and sat down on the sofa, next to Bella's feet. "Ok, you kicked my ass yesterday but today I'm gonna get you back" Bracken laughed as she tossed one controller to Bella, Bella laughed and coughed at the same time "you're on Bracks, time to have your ass handed to you again". Edward walked in and reached to take the controller from Bella's hands "you're too weak to play video games Bella", Bracken growled "for fucks sake Edward, she laying down!" she shouted. Bella took the controller back and sighed "Edward, I'm laying down, I'm drinking blood, I'm being watched 24/7. What more can I do to make you relax?" Edward pinched the bridge of his nose "Bella, I won't relax until the baby is born" Edward sighed and turned to walk away. Bracken watched her brother walk away, he was definitely a broken man, and this baby was destroying him. Bella placed her hand on Bracken's and smiled as Bracken drew her attention back to Bella, they went back to playing the game and Bracken focused on making Bella happy. Alice stood in the kitchen and watched the two of them laugh and joke around while Esme cooked behind her, if anyone had an ability to make Bella feel better in an instant, it was Bracken. Something about the young wolf made everyone forget any problem they had, she could light up a room and remove the tension just by walking in. it was one of the many things Alice loved about her, the carefree and happy attitude she had despite such horrid abuse.

Esme stood behind Alice and smiled as she watched her daughter "Bracken has really helped the family since she's been here, we've all been better for it", Alice nodded and smiled "your right mom, she completes us we're all so much better for her being here". "Enough of the soppy shit you two, I know I'm totally awesome but instead of standing there worshipping me; just build a statue" Bracken laughed. Bella's car slipped into first place on the large plasma screen and she laughed "ready to get your ass handed to you?" Bracken shook her head "only one getting their ass handed to them is you dear sister of mine" the two of them laughed. Just as Bella's car raced across the finishing line, her tummy growled loudly and the baby kicked. Rose raced over to the kitchen, grabbed a plate of food from Esme and a glass of blood and raced back over to the sofa. Bella took the glass of blood and downed it in one go before taking the plate and starting on the meal, Bracken grabbed both controllers and set up ready for the next race as Bella ate the mini mountain on food on the plate. Rose scowled at Bracken "maybe Bella's had enough games or one day" she said, Bracken carried on setting up the race "maybe you and Edward should get the collective stick out of your asses and let her do what she wants to do for a change" she muttered. Rose growled at Bracken and clenched her fists, just as Rose was about to strike at Bracken, Emmett rushed into the room and grabbed Rose. Esme walked in and frowned at the both of them "you two need to learn to get along, Bella does not need any of this fighting" Esme glared at the both of them. Bracken hung her head "sorry mom" she said quietly. Jacob walked in and looked around at the scene in front of him "looks like I'm not the only one Blondie hates" he laughed, Bracken smiled "hell yeah, she's not exactly a dog person".

Seth was pacing in front of the clear water house nervously waiting for his sister, Leah walked up to the front door, pulling her top down as she did. Seth turned to Leah and walked up to her "we need to talk…. Alone" he whispered, Leah sighed and followed her brother into the woods. "Ok, talk Seth" she commanded as they reached the beach, Seth stopped on the sand and looked out towards the water "we're doing the wrong thing Leah" he said quietly. "What do you mean the wrong thing?" she asked as she looked at her brother in confusion, Seth turned to Leah "can't you feel it?" he whispered as if he was afraid of someone hearing him. Leah shook her head and stared at her brother "no, what?" she asked, Seth looked around before leaning closer "I can't explain it… something's telling me… we shouldn't be doing this" he whispered. Leah sighed "Seth, you need to stop looking up to the bloodsuckers. Jake only left the pack because he's still in love with Bella, this is where we belong", Seth sighed in frustration "I didn't say we didn't belong here, but we can't attack the Cullens… I can't explain it Leah, but I know we'll regret it if we do". Leah laughed "oh really, what's going to happen Seth? Are we all gonna pay or something?" Seth grabbed Leah's shoulders "we can't do this Leah. I'm leaving the pack, I'll come back when Sam calls off this attack" he said sadly. Leah looked her brother in the eyes, really looked at him. Finally it hit her "your serious, you're leaving us… leaving me".

Seth shook his head and kept the grip on his sister's shoulders "no Leah, not you… or mom. I'm still your brother… I'm only leaving them". Leah shook her head "you can't, Sam will never call off the attack. He'll sacrifice you and Jake to finally get rid of the Cullens". Seth pulled Leah into a tight hug "I'll only be at the Cullen's house with Jake; I'll come back as much as I can to see you and mom. I promise", Leah watched as her brother ran off into the woods. As soon as she heard the quiet howl from her brother, she felt tears run down her face. Leah hated to cry; crying was always a weakness to her. But Leah cried, she cried for her brother, she cried because she worried about him, but most importantly she cried because she'd miss him. Leah wiped her eyes and ran back to the house; she'd have to think about what to tell Sam. Leah stopped as her hand rested on the door handle, her mom, what would she tell her mom? Leah took a deep breath and walked into the house, her mom was stood in the kitchen cooking. "Um mom…can I talk to you?" Leah asked nervously, Sue Clearwater looked up from the chopping board and smiled "of course Leah, what is it?" Leah looked down as she thought for a second "Seth left, he went to go be with Jake and protect the vampires" she mumbled. It was a good job Sue had put down the kitchen knife, because she would have dropped it at that statement "what?" she shouted out. Leah winced at how loud her mother had gotten "he said we were doing the wrong thing, he said he was going to visit us as much as he can but he's not coming back to the pack until Sam calls off the attack". Sue glared at Leah "why didn't you stop him? Why didn't you make him stay here?" she screamed, Leah gripped the table that separated them "because he's old enough to make up his own mind mom! I can't stop him any more than you can!" she yelled. Sue sat down on a kitchen chair and sobbed with her head in her hands "my little boy", Leah walked around and moved to stand behind her mother "I know, he'll be ok. Jake's looking after him" she said as she placed her hands on her mom's shoulders. "I hope so" Sue replied as she patted Leah's left hand "I really hope he is"

Seth slowed down to a jog as he neared the Cullen compound, as he ran he listened to the sounds of the woods around him, hoping to hear Jake. _What are you doing here Seth, go home _Jake came out of the woods and stopped in front of Seth, blocking his path. Seth stopped and sat on the ground _Jake, I want to join you and protect the Cullens, _Jake tilted his head in confusion _and what made you decide this Seth? It was only yesterday you were willing to follow Sam to the edge of the earth…wait, why can I hear you? I'm not par__t of the pack anymore. _Seth stood and started pacing in front of Jacob _I left the pack, I decided that until Sam changes his mind about the attack I won't have any part of it. _Jake stood and looked at Seth for a while, studying his eyes to see if he was lying. _Seth, you can't stay here. I don't want to lead a __pack;__ I left all that behind me to… _Jake started but was cut off by Seth. _To watch Bella die, I know… but Jake I don't want to join your pack. I want to help you. I can't explain it… I just know I nee__d to be here…Leah __too _Seth thought. Jake looked at Seth and tried to work out what the hell was going on, why did Seth and Leah need to be with the Cullens? How did Seth get the strength to go against the pack leader? None of it made sense but Jake decided to let it play out and see what happens. _Fine Seth, you can stay here. But I'm not your leader_ Jake said with a huff, Seth smiled started jogging to the Cullen house _Lets go Jake! _He called with a howl. Jake shook his head and wondered if he made a mistake with this decision.

Sam let out a loud growl and slammed his fists onto the table "what the hell do you mean he's gone?" he shouted, "I mean what I said Sam, he left to help Jake" Leah said while all the other pack members cowered. Sam stood over Leah and glared down at her "go get him back, drag him here by his tail if you have to" Sam's voice dropped to a menacing tone. Leah took a step back and crossed her arms over her chest "no" was the only word that came from her, "no?" Sam growled "you dare say no to me?" Leah nodded, she suddenly felt as if a weight was slowly being lifted from her shoulders every time she said no to him, "I will do go get my brother, he is free to do as he sees fit Sam" Leah said clearly. The other members started backing away from Leah, worried that Sam's anger would be deflected to them. Sam's anger was raging, fist Jake had defied him and now Seth and Leah were following behind. Sam knew that in order to stop from losing the pack all together, he had to take control back and stop the defiant behaviour. "Leah" Sam's voice dropped to a low growl "I want you to go get your brother and bring him home now", he stood and waited for Leah to comply. In that one statement, Leah realised something. Seth was right; Sam had gone too far this time. Leah didn't know why exactly, but she knew that she needed to go be with her brother. And more importantly, she needed to be at the Cullen's compound. That last thought was one that she hated, but no matter how much she didn't want to be around the blood suckers, she knew she needed to be. "No Sam, no I won't get Seth. Actually, I need to go be with him. We'll come back when you come to your senses and call off the attack" Leah said with more confidence than she had ever felt in her life. All Sam could do was watch as Leah walked off into the woods; Sam knew something had to be done before it was too late.

Bella laid on the sofa while Bracken sat at her feet and read aloud, Bella winced as the baby kicked harder than she'd like. Bracken stopped reading to place her left hand on Bella's tummy "shhh baby, don't kick mommy" Bracken spoke in a soothing tone. Almost instantly the kicking stopped and the baby calmed down, Bella smiled as her eyelids drooped "how did you do that?" she asked. Bracken smiled "when Anastasia was pregnant with Cubby, I used to do the exact same thing to stop him kicking and clawing her", Bracken went back to reading Moby Dick aloud while Bella dropped off to sleep. Edward would spend every moment that someone was with Bella trying to work out a way to stop the baby killing Bella, nothing looked good and everything pointed to her death anyway Rose was doing everything in her power to make sure the baby was fine and everyone but Bella noticed that her actions were geared towards the baby's care more than Bella's. Bracken decided to be around Bella more than anyone so that Edward could be sure that no matter what, Bella's wellbeing would be looked after as well as the baby. That involved, playing computer games, reading aloud to both Bella and the baby, playing music for her, watching T.V and anything else she needed. All things Bracken loved to do, making her feel more like a much needed member of the family and not just a new addition. Jake, Seth and Leah took to guard dog duties, taking the role very seriously. None of them entered the house much, except to eat food prepared by Esme. Even Leah, who couldn't stand any vampire, would venture into the house long enough to eat something home cooked.

Just as Bracken was finishing Moby dick and Bella had fallen asleep, the front door knocked. Esme went to the front door while Bracken put the book away, "Bracken. There's someone here for you" Esme said as she walked into the living room, followed by two other people. Bracken turned around and her jaw dropped at the two figured she saw standing there, "Anastasia, Cubby" was all she could say. Cubby stepped forward, in just a few short weeks he had grown so much. He wasn't the small boy only a few weeks ago hung off her ankle; he was turning more into a young man. His body had changed, he was more muscled, his height had increased, and his face had taken on a more adult appearance. It seemed that taking over the pack had altered his body. Cubby stepped forward and bowed his head quickly "Bracken, Frankie's dead"

Bracken felt like she was going to be sick.

**A/N2: OK, so….. What did you guys think? Does anyone remember who Frankie was? Maybe I need to do another flashback in the next chapter, been a while since we had one. To be honest I think I do need to do one to explain what's going on, I'll fit one in. not many chapters left until I get started on the follow on story, probably 2 chapters left. You'll understand why when I get to the end of the last chapter. So reviews, suggestions, comments? All are appreciated. Big love and thanks to all my fans and to everyone who's added me to their alert lists. All you guys rock!**


	21. Today is just full of surprises

**A/N: So, what does everyone think is going to happen? What happened to Frankie? Who is Frankie? What has Sam got planned now he's lost two more wolves? So many questions, these and many more will be answered in this chapter. Starting to round this story up now, starting on the sequel once it's finished. This story isn't very long compared to others, but I'm planning on putting so much more into the sequel. **

Chapter Nineteen: Today is just full of surprises

Bracken took a few deep breaths and steadied herself; she gripped onto the back of the sofa and used it to hold herself up. Cubby stood and waited before speaking again "I know it's a shock, I'm sorry we have to bring you such bad news". Bracken shook her head to clear out the last of the fog that had set in and spoke "how?" her voice was barely a whisper. Cubby looked back at his mother quickly before looking back to Bracken "he took his own life because Cassie died during childbirth", "childbirth?" Bracken asked as her jaw dropped. Cubby nodded "yeah, Frankie was the father. She left this letter for you…. Bracken… she wanted you to have the babies", Bracken gulped as she took the letter from Cubby "babies? As in more than one baby?" Cubby nodded "twins, everything is explained in the letter. We had to look at it to find out who she wanted to be guardian", Cubby and Anastasia walked out of the room and came back in carrying a bundle each. Anastasia passed her bundle to Alice and Cubby passed his bundle to Bracken. Alice looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms and felt the venom pool behind her eyes "she's beautiful"; Bracken smiled "they both are". Cubby looked around as he tried to find the words "well uh… we have to go now. The twins are yours, as you know there's no birth certificate or anything. Congratulations Bracken, you're a parent now". Bracken nodded and Cubby and Anastasia slipped out as everyone crowded around Bracken and Alice. "Cubby!" Bracken called as she saw them slipping out, Cubby turned around "yeah?" Bracken smiled "you're doing a good job as Alpha", Cubby's chest swelled with pride as he smiled. Anastasia and Cubby walked out of the door, leaving Bracken alone for good.

"What are you gonna call them?" Emmett asked as he looked down at the twins, everyone's attention switched to Bracken and Alice as they looked at each other. Alice tilted the baby girl so everyone could see her better "I'd like you all to meet Anastasia Esme Rose Bella Cullen", everyone smiled at the name choices and Esme looked like she was trying not to cry. Esme felt such pride at having her name given to her first granddaughter, Rose looked even happier as she covered her mouth with her hands. Bracken tilted the baby in her arms "And I'd like you all to meet Cadoc Carlisle Edward Emmett Jasper Cullen", Edward, Emmett and Jasper all puffed their chests out as their names were listed. Carlisle smiled at Bracken and placed his hand on her shoulder "you've both honoured us all by naming your children after us. Thank you". "Because we love you all" Alice replied sweetly, Bracken nodded "you all took me in and made me a part of the family, this is a good way to repay you". Alice gasped and smiled "we get to go shopping!", "and make a nursery!" Esme beamed excitedly.

The guys and Bracken groaned as the girls rushed off to go shopping, Alice handed Anastasia to Jasper as she left. Bracken looked down at the sleeping babies and smiled "at least you get spared from the shopping trip Bella", Bella nodded and smiled as Bracken sat next to her with Cadoc in her arms, Bracken passed Cadoc to Bella as Jasper handed Anastasia to Bracken "um…what do we feed them?" Jasper asked nervously. Emmett laughed "even I know that, they drink milk", Bracken shook her head "actually, wolf milk is a little different to human milk. We need to make something close to it". Everyone started wondering how they were going to do that when vampires don't like the smell of any kind of food and know absolutely nothing about werewolf milk. "I know how to make the milk; I've had to help Anastasia raise orphaned cubs a few times. We need to use meat to make the milk thicker and higher in protein" Bracken explained as she saw the confused looks, Bella looked at Edward "don't know why you're standing around here, go get bracken some meat". Bracken laughed as the boys ran out of the house, arguing about what meat to buy.

The girls raided pretty much every shop in Port Angeles, buying everything they could to do with babies. Dainty dresses, suits, vests, socks and shoes and anything else they could get their hands on. After hours of buying every designer outfit and piece of baby furniture possible, they hit the hardware stores. Esme was finally in her element, after hours of looking at wallpaper and paint, she finally decided on cute bunny wallpaper with baby blue and pink paints, a light shade with crayons on them and bunny carpet. The girls knew that once they got the stuff home; it would be the job of the boys to construct the nursery, under the guidance of Esme of course. Back at the house, Seth walked through the front door and into the living room. "Hey, where is everyone?" he called out as he looked around, "gone out" Bella said as she looked over the back of the sofa. Seth walked around the sofa and stopped dead in his tracks, his jaw dropped as his gaze was drawn to Anastasia asleep in Bella's arms. As he looked down at the tiny baby he felt as if his whole world had shrunk and nothing mattered but the little girl before him.

Bracken watched Seth's gaze and started growling loudly, Bella looked between the two of them and called out "Jake! Jake I need you!" Jake came running in and skidded to a stop as he saw Seth's face and noticed Bracken's protective growling. "Relax Bracken, Seth's only imprinted on her" Jake said as he rushed to stand in front of Bracken, Bracken looked at Jake "you what?" she shouted. Jake held his hands up in surrender "easy Bracken, it's not his fault. Imprinting isn't something you have a choice over", Bracken carried on growling "but why my daughter?" Seth looked up for the first time since he walked into the house "Bracken, I'm sorry I imprinted. But I don't want to hurt your daughter in anyway; all I want to do is protect her and be there for her". Just at that moment, Leah walked into the house to find out what all the fuss is. "OK, what the hell is with the…" Leah's question was cut off as she saw Cadoc asleep in Bracken's arms, Bracken took one look at Leah and growled even louder "oh hell no! Not her now!"

Both the guys and the girls returned home at the same time, the girls loaded with baby supplies and decorating items and the guys loaded with meat. As they walked into the house, they saw Bella sat on the couch holding both babies, Bracken growling at Seth and Leah who were now backed into a corner and Jake trying desperately to hold Bracken back. The boys dropped the meat and rushed to pull bracken back while Rose grabbed the meat and put it in the freezer. "What the hell is going on?" Carlisle shouted as they dragged Bracken back to an armchair and forced her down into it. "They imprinted on the twins, Bracken isn't taking it well" Jake said as he pointed to Leah and Seth, Alice sighed "you're kidding, this is all we need". Edward and Emmett carried everything upstairs with the help of Rose, while Esme and Alice went to sort the whole mess out. Alice took Anastasia from Bella and sat next to her on the sofa, Esme stood in front of Bracken who was still being help down in the armchair "Bracken, please think about this. An imprint isn't always a bad thing, listen to Jake and let him explain it to you before you freak out". Bracken sighed and looked over to Jake.

Jake looked over at Seth and Leah and sighed "imprinting on a child is different to imprinting on an adult, there's nothing romantic to it", Jake rubbed the back of his neck and continued "when a wolf imprints on a child, they become the best babysitter ever. Then when the imprint gets older, they become his or her best friend. By the time the imprint becomes an adult, the wolf becomes the perfect partner". Bracken stopped struggling in her father and brother's arms "so what, I still don't like it", Alice sighed "why not Bracken? Like Jake said, they'll be perfect for the twins". Jake cleared his throat to bring attention back to him "when a wolf imprints they can't be separated. It'll kill them", Bracken looked at Seth and Leah stood in the corner watching the twins. Bracken sighed "I don't have a choice do i? I don't like it but I don't have a choice", Seth smiled "so you'll let us be around them?" Bracken growled and walked off upstairs. Alice sighed and followed Bracken upstairs, Seth and Leah smiled and sat down on the sofa.

Bracken stormed into the bedroom they shared and growled loudly, Alice walked in after her and tried to calm Bracken down. "I hate this Alice, I hate how our kids are gonna have their choices taken away from them" Bracken whined, Alice wrapped her arms around Bracken's neck and hugged her tightly "I know, I hate it too. But if we don't agree to it then it could mean Seth and Leah's deaths. Plus, we have two perfect babysitters ready to go". Bracken sighed and nodded "I guess I can get used to it, over time", Alice closed her eyes and enjoyed the quiet calm that washed over them as they stood still together. Bella rocked Cadoc to sleep "I understand what Bracken is saying, I'd feel the same way", Jake looked at her in surprise "what about if you had a daughter and I imprinted, how would you feel then?" Bella shrugged "I'd still hate it, having a child's choice taken away from them is hell for a parent", Jake looked slightly hurt by what she said "Claire doesn't have her choice taken away from her, Cadoc and Anastasia don't have their choice taken from them. It's not losing your choice, its nature's way of finding the perfect partner".

Bracken and Alice walked back downstairs, seeing Seth and Leah holding the twins with such care made Alice smile. "See?" she asked Bracken "they care about them so much", Bracken sighed and walked up to Seth "I don't like the idea of you two imprinting and I'm never going to, but I will allow it". Seth handed Anastasia to Bracken softly and smiled down at her lovingly "thank you Bracken. I promise you, they'll know no sadness or pain. We'll be there for them when you and Alice can't". Bracken nodded "just remember who their parents are", Seth nodded "of course, that's not what an imprint's about". Bracken nodded and looked over to the kitchen "well, you get to look after Anastasia for a while Seth. I have to make their milk", Seth took the sleeping baby as Bracken walked off to the kitchen with Esme following close behind. "Well, that went easier than I expected" Emmett joked as he was pulled away by Rosalie, Edward walked close behind, carrying the plans Esme had drawn up while all the chaos was going on. Alice sat next to Bella as they started talking about babies and names for her baby, Leah sat on the love seat next to Seth. Alice looked over and smiled at the two of them, holding the twins, smiling and ticking their toes.

"We still have Sam to worry about, we need to figure out a way to deal with this" Esme said, Bracken took out several pounds of venison from the freezer and started cutting it up. "I have no idea how we're going to deal with any of this mom, we have the twins to worry about, Bella to protect and now with this imprint we have to worry about Seth and Leah" Bracken sighed as she put all the chopped meat into the blender. Jake cleared his throat from the doorway "I might have an idea", Bracken took out a bottle of milk and poured a large amount into the blender with the meat "what's your idea Jake?" she asked. Jake watched Bracken for a second before speaking "Seth and Leah's imprint, we can use it to get the council to call of Sam's attack", Esme thought for a second before nodding in agreement "that could work, but how would we inform the council?" Jake shrugged and raised his voice to be heard over the blender "I could go talk to my dad and Sue, once Sue finds out both her children have imprinted with werewolves she'll order Sam not to attack herself". Bracken poured the liquid into bottles and started heating two of them up "how soon can you get the message to them?" she asked, Jake shrugged "I can go see my dad right now, Sue's always with my dad". Bracken put the other bottles in the fridge while the two bottles were heating, "right, well Jake you go tell your dad and Sue. We'll just have to wait and see if it works" Bracken said as she grabbed the two bottles of milk.

Bracken and Esme walked back into the living room where everyone was now sat watching the twins. Bracken handed one bottle to Alice who was already rocking Anastasia, Bracken took Cadoc from Leah and sat on the sofa next to Alice "Jake's going to talk to Billy and Sue; he has an idea on how to stop the attack". Seth sat forward in his chair "really? How?" Bracken didn't even look up from Cadoc as she spoke "he's going to tell Sue and his dad about your imprints, he said that if your mom knows about it she'll do anything to stop the attack". Carlisle nodded "It makes sense; she'd do anything for her children. To break an imprint would mean their deaths", Alice put the bottle down and started patting Anastasia's back "as long as our family is safe, I don't care how this is all sorted". Bracken looked at Alice and smiled reassuringly "don't worry love, we'll sort it out. I'll do whatever I have to do in order to protect our family" Alice smiled and lent her head on Bracken's shoulder, Bracken went back to feeding Cadoc.

"The nursery's done, we're just waiting for the paint to dry and then we can do the furniture" Emmett announced loudly, everyone could tell by the wide smile on his face that he was feeling very proud with himself. Cadoc yawned and slowly fell asleep in Bracken's arms; Bracken passed Cadoc to Leah and walked up the stairs to her and Alice's bedroom. Alice passed Anastasia to Carlisle and went upstairs after Bracken; Alice opened the bedroom door and stood in the doorway watching Bracken. Bracken stood in front of the window and held a letter in her hand; Alice walked up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist. "Is everything ok my love?" Alice asked quietly as she kissed Bracken's shoulder blade, Bracken said nothing but held the letter up for Alice to read.

_Dearest Bracken_

_If this letter reaches you then it means I am dead, I really hope you don't read this letter. While I'm writing this, I am pregnant and due to give birth any day now. Only our mother knows that Frankie is the father, it would not be allowed, but you know as well as I do that he is a good man. Frankie has been there for us both from the moment we were both born and has been a faithful companion for decades. If anything is to happen to me during or after the birth, then I would like or you to raise my children. I see no one more suited to the task than you my dear sister; please raise my children as if they were your own… because with this letter they become yours. Even though Callum is long gone now, I still fear what would happen if my children were to be raised in this pack. You know there are others who follow his ideals; my children would be killed if they were to have their way. So I am intrusting you with their lives, I know you'll raise them right._

_Your ever loving big sister,_

_Cassie_

Alice finished reading the letter and folded it back up "It explains a lot" she said, Bracken nodded "Cassie and I were never raised together, she doesn't really have many other siblings. None of them would raise her children anyway". The two of them stood in silence for a few minutes, neither of them speaking. Finally Bracken was the one to break the silence "we have to raise the twins in the same way she would raise them, I owe her that much. She did so much for me in my life" Bracken spoke softly. Alice kept quiet while Bracken stared out of the window, thinking about the past.

**Russia 1901**

Bracken stood in the manor grounds looking into the wilderness, the night covered the landscape like a thick blanket of nothingness. The quiet sounded eerie to mortals, but to Bracken it was comforting. She liked the quiet and the dark; it made her feel at peace. The sound of music and talking coming from the house behind her, the snow was thick in front of her. "You're missing the party" Cassie said as she stood behind Bracken, "not like they'd miss me" Bracken replied quietly. Frankie came running out and stopped next to Cassie before whispering something in her ear, Cassie nodded and stepped closer to Bracken. "Bracken… Frankie and I… we're together now" Cassie said quietly as she placed her hand on Bracken's shoulder, Bracken nodded "I knew you two would get together". Cassie smiled sadly and hugged Bracken from behind "this won't change anything; we'll still be here for you. We'll still protect you", "with our lives" Frankie agreed as he stepped forward. Cassie smiled "It's the three of us Bracken… the three of us against all of them. Forever" Cassie said as she pointed back to the manor house, Bracken looked up at her older half-sister and smiled "you promise?" Frankie smiled "we both promise".

**Present day**

"It was supposed to be us against them all… forever" Bracken whispered so quietly that Alice thought she was mistaken, "Cassie and Frankie, they were supposed to be there for me always. Now they're dead" Bracken finished. "I'm sorry Bracken" Alice said "but they've left you something precious to them, to take care of and protect". Bracken nodded "your right, now all we have to do is stop this wolf attack and everything will be fine". Alice nodded, all they could do is hope that Jake was successful… if not; they'd have a fight on their hands.

**A/N2: sorry it took so long, I had so much going on. Next chapter is the last one, and then there will be a short break before I get started on the sequel. **


	22. New additions and fight conclusions

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to write this chapter, I took a short break to brainstorm the last chapter. I want to make this as action packed and full of drama as I can, since this is the last chapter. Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck by me through this story, Shadowcub, pureangeleyes, verseseven…. Everyone. I love you all!**

**Chapter Twenty: New additions and fight conclusions**

Jake slowed down his sprint as he reached the boundary lines, he could hear the distant howls of his old pack. Jake shut the noise out and pushed forward, sprinting as fast as he could to his father's house. As Jake reached his old house he saw the porch light on, jogging up to the front door he pushed it open and walked in, seeing his father and Sue sat talking. They both looked up to see Jake standing in front of them; Billy turned his wheelchair and opened his arms for a hug "Jake, good to see you've come home". Jake walked into his father's arms and hugged him "dad, I haven't come back for good. I still have to go back and protect Bella… I came back to tell you that you need to call off Sam's attack". Sue stepped forward and looked shocked that Jake would even say such a thing "Sam knows what he's doing, he's assured us that this is the best thing for all of us and the humans you are all supposed to protect". Jake shook his head "If you believe that then there's something you should know…. Seth and Leah have imprinted". Sue covered her mouth with her hand as she gasped "really? Oh please tell me it isn't one of…._them_", Jake felt a growl building up in his chest but swallowed it down knowing it would only do more damage than good. "No Sue…. But the werewolf, Bracken, has adopted her new born niece and nephew….they imprinted on them", Billy and Sue both felt their jaws drop nearly to the floor at the news. Nobody expected that to happen and sue was less than happy to hear it, she felt as if her whole world was spinning out of control and she was powerless to change it. First her husband is cruelly taken from her by a heart attack and now her children had imprinted on the werewolf children of their sworn enemies, how was any of this fair?

Billy helped Sue to sit on the sofa and turned back to look at his son, the young man standing before him was not the little boy who once looked so carefree and happy. He looked older and worn out, his shoulders hung low and his clothes looked so worn and ill-fitting now. He looked like he hadn't slept in a year and hadn't smiled in even longer, his hair was shaggy now, and the sight broke Billy's heart. "Son, is there any way to get the babies away from the Cullens? We could bring them here where they could be raised by their own kind" Billy suggested, Jake looked at his father in shock; he couldn't believe what he was suggesting "dad, they're not _our_ _kind_. They're a different kind of werewolf; the twins belong with the Cullens. Just call off the attack" Jake pleaded. He needed to make his dad see what a big mistake this was, he had to for Bella, Seth and Leah's sakes. Billy looked like he was going to argue for the attack once again, Jake tried one more thing "dad, if the attack goes ahead Seth and Leah will fight with the Cullen's…. and I'll have no choice but the stand with them". Billy looked at the determination set firmly in Jake's eyes and knew that his son had made up his mind; no one was going to stop Jake from sticking to his word. Billy sighed and cast a quick glance to Sue, who looked like she was going into shock "I'll see what I can do son, but it's not just my decision". Jake nodded "thank you dad, I have to go now, but I'll come by as soon as Bella has had her baby… once I know she's OK".

Billy nodded and hugged Jake good bye, he watched as his son jogged off into the night and sighed. None of this was going to end well, that much was obvious to Billy. He just hoped he didn't lose his son over it all. Jake took long strides as he ran towards the boundary lines, just as he neared the end of Quileute land, Jake was tackled by a large wolf. Shifting mid roll he turned to see Embry stood growling and panting at him, Sam walked slowly out of the trees, flanked by Paul and Quil, and stopped in front of Jake _what are you doing back here Jake, your one of them now _Sam's thoughts were clear in Jake's mind. Jake growled _you need to call off the attack Sam… things have changed_, Sam let out a gruff laugh _oh really? What things__?_ Jake looked around, wondering if he should say anything or not, Embry saw the silence and growled loudly. Jake sighed and phased back just as everyone else did as well, Paul looked at Jake impatiently "so tell us Jake, why should we call off the attack?" Quil laughed "you joining the blood suckers? You wanna have fangs too?" Jake growled "it's not like that Quil, things are different now. It's not that simple anymore". Jake knew he was going way too far to stop now; none of them were going to let it go now so he may as well carry on. As if his thoughts were answered, Embry growled "so what is different Jake? You keep saying things are different but I don't see it". Jake sighed "Seth and Leah have imprinted".

Everything went quiet for what seemed like forever, the only sound was a faint growling coming from Sam. Jacob saw him shaking and rolled his eyes "there is no way you should be mad at Leah imprinting, you imprinted on Emily", Sam snarled at Jacob as he turned around and ran back into the woods, phasing as he ran. The rest of the pack took one last look at Jake, anger blazing, before phasing back and running off after Sam. Jake sighed and ran his hand through his short hair; none of this was going well. Their only hope now was that his father could get the rest of the council to call off the attack… for everyone's sake. Jake sighed and took off running back to the Cullen compound, phasing as he ran. He'd already spent too much time away from Bella as it was, he needed to get back to her and make sure she was OK. Jake couldn't understand why he felt this unknown pull to Bella, why for some reason he suddenly couldn't imagine being away from Bella ever. Jacob ran faster as he neared the compound, a feeling of dread running though his veins, making him push himself past his limit. As Jake reached the edge of Cullen land he heard an ear piercing scream from the house, Jake Phased back on the edge of the treeline and pulled on a pair of cut-off jeans he had stashed. Jake ran across the grounds and burst through the back door, Alice stood up quickly and pointed upstairs "oh Jake, Bella went into labour. Edward and Bracken rushed her upstairs". Jake nodded and ran upstairs as fast as his legs would move; he burst through the door of Carlisle's study and stopped in shock at what he saw.

Bella, laid on the hospital bed in the middle of the room, Bracken and Edward stood on either side of her. Jake came to his senses and rushed to the bed "how long has she been in labour?" he demanded, Bracken handed Edward the scalpel "not long, she's had her spine snapped so she can't feel any pain and the baby can't breathe so we have to rush him or her out". Bracken looked up at Edward and it looked like the two of them had a mental conversation, Edward nodded and Bracken left the room just as Rosalie came into the room. Bracken walked back into the living room and took Anastasia from Seth; everyone stood and listened to the sounds above them. The tension in the room was unbearable and holding the twins was doing nothing to keep Bracken and Alice calm. Emmett paced the living room so much that everyone thought he was going to wear a trench from one side of the room to the other. Finally Emmett let out a frustrated roar and ran out of the house, no one went after him as they all knew exactly why he did what he did. The frustration of his baby sister and her baby nearly dying was too much for him to take, he had to do something.

Emmett ran north towards Canada, he ran until he was in the middle of the wilderness and away from any civilisation. As Emmett reached a large redwood tree and punched it, he kept punching it until the tree split all the way up the middle of the tree. As the tree fell over in two halves Emmett heard a noise, a quiet, distant noise. A noise he couldn't quite figure out, Emmett stood as still as a statue, listening. Emmett took off running as fast as he could in the direction, he didn't even notice the three feet of snow he was running though, not that he would anyway. After a short run across an area the size of Forks through the Canadian wilderness, Emmett stopped at the most disturbing sight he had seen since becoming a vampire. The body of a young woman laid on the ground, blood soaking into the snow and a baby, not even an hour old was biting the top of her thigh. Emmett edged forward slowly as he watched the baby, finally he realised that the baby was feeding off his dead mother. Emmett reached down and picked up the baby, who snapped at his hands. The baby boy looked into Emmett's eyes and Emmett felt warmth he had never felt before spread through his body, for the first time in his vampire life he felt warm. Emmett knew he had to take the child and protect him, as he took of his t-shirt and wrapped the baby. He laid the baby on the floor and went about digging a hole to bury the mother, he made sure he covered all signs that she was ever there. He picked the baby up and cradled him into his chest as if the baby was the most important parcel in the world.

Emmett walked back into the house carrying the wrapped up bundle in his arms, everyone was now in the living room with exception of Edward and they all turned to face him. Esme saw how bad Emmett looked and rushed to his side "Emmett, what's wrong? What's happened to you?" she asked in a worried tone, "I ran all the way to Canada, I hit a tree and I heard a noise" he cut himself off as he couldn't think of how to explain it, Emmett moved the quiet bundle slightly so Esme could see "he was all alone, I had to bring him here" he finished as Esme gasped. Everyone was suddenly focused on Emmett as he explained what had happened, his voice constantly shaking. Rosalie handed Renesmee to Jacob and slowly approached Emmett, she held her hands out and Emmett passed the wrapped baby to her. Rosalie looked down at the sleeping boy and smiled "hello little man" she whispered, the baby woke and looked up at Rosalie with a smile. Emmett explained how the baby was a half vampire and how the mother had no ID on her when she died. Carlisle nodded "well the baby seems to have bonded with the two of you, if you both want; I think it'd be a good idea if the two of you adopted him".

With that one sentence Rosalie looked like all her birthdays and Christmases had come together in one moment, she looked at Emmett and he had a bigger smile than she did. He stood next to Rosalie and put his arm around her shoulder "we finally have it Rose, we've finally got our own family", as everyone congratulated the couple, Bracken was the first one to ask "what are you going to name him?" Rose thought for a few seconds before smiling "I like Skyler, Skyler Emmett Cullen", Emmett smiled and nodded "Skyler it is then". Bracken scratched the back of her neck "2 half vampires babies and 2 werewolf babies, this will be…interesting", at that moment everyone started laughing, Bracken was right and they all knew it. With 3 imprinted werewolves as well, things were going to get very complicated indeed. Rosalie held Skyler closer to her chest "If any wolf imprints on him, I'm going to be ripping them to pieces" she warned, Bracken laughed "your welcome to have Seth or Leah imprint on Skyler, I could do with one child not imprinted". Alice playfully slapped Bracken on the arm and tried to look angry, Seth looked worried again "you're… you're not going to stop me seeing Anastasia are you?" he half whined, Alice turned and smiled at Seth in a comforting way "of course not Seth, we'd never do that to you". Seth breathed out a sigh of relief and visibly relaxed, no one had noticed Leah who had tensed at bracken's comment and had now relaxed along with Seth.

Carlisle looked thoughtful for a second "I wonder how Jacob got on with the pack", everyone went quiet in an instant and a sense of dread fell down upon the room. Alice and Rosalie went off upstairs to find some of Cadoc's clothes for Skyler to wear, while everyone else went off to find other things to do. Bella was in the back of everyone's minds all through her transformation, everyone worried for her and wondered what would become of her once she woke up. Renesmee constantly asked about her mom, Jake nearly gave in to her demands on more than one occasion. Edward never left her side and was joined by different members of the house at different times, everyone wanted to see Bella for themselves and make sure she was ok. At different times during Bella's transformation; Carlisle and Esme would come in and sit with Bella so that Edward could go downstairs and spend time with Renesmee. Alice, Rosalie and Esme spent the three days getting everything needed for Skyler. Shopping for a new wardrobe, furniture and decoration shopping, and drawing up plans for his nursery. The boys had the responsibility of building an extension for all the new children, as well as Renesmee's nursery in the cottage. Even with the excitement of Bella waking up and learning to be a new born, bonding with Renesmee and the worry of Renesmee's rapid growth and development, Jake was constantly nervous about the wolves' plans.

"If they start on us then we sort them out" Seth said, Leah growled at Seth "we can't kill our pack". "They're not our pack if they start a fight, we have to protect the kids" Seth replied as he looked over to Anastasia. Bracken shook her head as she fed Anastasia her bottle "no Seth, we can't ask you three to fight your brothers", Bella walked into the room holding Renesmee. As she sat on the sofa with her daughter in her arms, Jake sat next to her "Seth's right, if Sam and the pack try to hurt the kids then we have to step in and stop them". Bella rolled her eyes and held Renesmee closer to her chest, Edward struggled to hold back a growl and Bracken had the smuggest look ever on her face. She wasn't the only one who hated the imprints. Alice went blank as she slipped into a vision, Leah took Cadoc gently from her and Bracken passed Anastasia to Seth. Everyone watched Alice closely as she eventually came back from her vision, looking around quickly to everyone "they've made up their minds, they're coming in an hour to kill the kids" she whispered. Everyone growled, with Bracken, Seth, Leah and Jake letting out the loudest growls of everyone. Bracken turned to Esme and Rosalie "mom, Rose, will you two hold the kids and keep them safe?" she asked, Esme nodded "Of course sweetie, I assume you have a plan". Bracken nodded "Jasper, could you keep a lock on their emotions? And Edward, could you stay in Sam's mind?" she asked her two brothers, both Edward and Jasper nodded "It'll be easier listening to just Sam, I'll be able to hear all of them at once" Edward said as he wrapped his arm around Bella and held her close.

Carlisle stood and looked around at everyone "OK, we have an hour to get ready. Let's make sure everything is covered", Bracken and Jasper started formulating a plan quicker than anyone could have imagined possible. By the end of the hour, everyone was stood out the front of the house, waiting or the wolves to show up. Everyone was on edge waiting for the fight that would destroy them all, no matter who won. The plan was for Esme and Rose to hold the children, they had to stay behind everyone and protect the babies. Seth, Leah and Jake stood at the front in wolf form, with Jake taking alpha point in front. Everything was silent for what felt like forever, no one moving, no one making a sound. Slowly Sam and the other wolves moved out of the tree line, growling, ready for a fight. Edward stepped forward and spoke to Jake, Seth and Leah "Sam is giving you a choice, stand with them once again… or die with us". All three growled louder than anyone thought possible for a wolf, and Bella felt a small amount of fear at the volume of her best friend. Edward turned back to Sam "Jake, Seth and Leah all agree that they will not be the ones dyeing today. You want to kill their imprints; they'll fight to the death". Sam nodded his giant head and turned to look back at the others, all the wolves crouched further as they got ready to charge forward. What happened next, no one was prepared for and no one would have believed if they hadn't been there to see it.

Sue Clearwater ran in between the two groups, facing Sam with her arms stretched out "Stop Sam!" she yelled. Sam looked over her shoulder briefly before turning back to her, "I don't like it any more than you Sam, I never wanted my children to imprint on them. But if you kill those children, then you kill my children… and me" Sue said with as emotion as she could put into her words. Billy Black was wheeled around the side of the house by his daughter Rachel "Sam wait!" he shouted as his chair was brought to a stop next to Sue "this attack will not happen", everyone looked at Billy in confusion as they all tried to work out what the hell was going on. Bracken stepped forward slowly and cleared her throat "excuse me Mr Black; I hope you don't find me speaking out of turn. But I don't understand what's going on; I thought the council ordered the death of our children". Billy looked at Bracken and shook his head "It was agreed before we knew of the situation; we cannot allow three of our tribe to lose their imprints". Sam growled loudly, brining attention back to him. Esme and Rose held the babies closer to their chests, taking a step back towards the house. Carlisle stepped forward and joined his youngest daughter "Billy, are you saying the attack has been called off?" Billy nodded "none of us are happy about the imprinting, we would give anything to have the imprints broken. But the rules are not to be broken by anyone; you're all safe as long as the imprints stand"

Jake, Seth and Leah howled with joy as they rushed back into the house to change back. Sam and the other LaPush wolves growled once more before walking off back into the forest. Sue looked sadly as her children walked back out of the house in human form and took each of their imprints, smiles spread over their faces as they hugged them tightly. Bracken saw this and looked at Sue sympathetically "I'm not happy about the imprinting either, I never wanted my children's choices taken away from them. I'd give anything to turn back the clock and stop it from ever happening, but I can't". Bracken glanced back briefly at Seth and Leah holding the twins and smiled, looking back at Sue as she carried on speaking "But I do know that Seth and Leah will treat my children with as much love as I or Alice could ever give them. Even if they've had their choice in mates taken away from them, I know it's not really an unfair trade when I think about it". Sue looked at her children and for the first time she saw pure happiness in their eyes, the happiness you can only find by finding the other half of your soul. Sue sighed "I don't like it now, but I suppose I can get used to it. I just don't want the reservation over run by…. Vampires", Bracken shrugged "it won't be, the treaty stands no matter what. We'll only come on your lands if you invite us". Billy shook everyone's hands and hugged his son, Sue hugged her children and gave them strict orders that they would sleep at home every night and spend their days with the twins. Seth and Leah agreed happily and waved as Billy and Sue left to back to the reservation. Carlisle sighed "even though this problem is sorted, we still have another big problem".

"The children are growing too fast" Carlisle explained "they should only be a few weeks old, but they all like their a few months", everyone realised in shock that Carlisle was right. With all the stress of the pack wanting to kill the kids and everything else happening everyone had failed to notice that the children were growing way too quick. The look of panic in Bella and Alice's eyes was near heart-breaking to Edward as he saw his wife and sister clutching their children to them even tighter. Bracken stood and started pacing as she looked lost in thought, everyone stopped their silent panicking and watched her pace. "Bracken?" Carlisle asked, Bracken shook her head quickly as she came back out of her train of thought "sorry dad, I was just remembering something I heard once". "well please share it with us" Jacob growled, Bracken looked at Jake un-phased by his actions before looking at the whole family "It was something I heard about 100 years ago, there was word of a new kind of vampire. Vampires created naturally with human mothers, giving birth to them. We never knew where they came from or much about them, but we knew that they could live either way, they had heartbeats and blood running through their veins. They could pass easily for a human or even live alongside vampires as their equal".

"They grew quickly, very quickly, they were fully grown within 7 years. But the thing was, as soon as they reached maturity, they stopped ageing. They lived forever as far as we knew" Bracken finished. Everyone looked at her in shock "well what about the twins?" Alice asked, "well that's the thing. Amongst our kind, the pack moves together. Wolf cubs will grow at the same time, if one grows faster than normal they all do. Cadoc and Anastasia are genetically following the others in the pack" Bracken replied. Bella spoke quietly as she looked down at her daughter in her arms "so…will Renesmee live forever?", Bracken smiled "all four of them will live forever… as long as no one kills them". Emmett looked down at Skyler sleeping in Rosalie's arms "so we're never going to lose them, they'll be our children forever", Bracken smiled and nodded "pretty much, they'll become young adults and stay that way forever". The cheering from everyone in the Cullen house could be heard a mile away as the family celebrated… the whole family. The children would age quickly and within 7 years would stop ageing, no one would be saying good bye to them and no one had to worry. Edward and Bella had Renesmee, Bracken and Alice had the twins and Rosalie and Emmett had the one thing they had always wanted but could never have. Esme was the happiest of them all. Four grandchildren to spend an eternity spoiling… and she couldn't wait.

**A/N2: ok, I'm so sorry for the really long wait. I've had so much happen recently that I could write a book about it all, not gonna happen though. ****Ok, so this is the last chapter of the story. I've finally ended this one, but the ****sequel**** will be brought out soon. I haven't come up with a name for it yet, but I will think of one soon enough. Unless someone has a suggestion, message me if you do. It'll be mostly about the kids, they're the main focus of the story. The first chapter should be written and posted a week from the date of this update. Thank you to everyone whose followed Bracken's journey so far and an even bigger thank you to everyone ****who's**** reviewed and added me to author and story alerts. You guys are who I write ****for;**** I just hope the next story will be just as good as this one. ****Love you all, big hugs and cookies for everyone!**


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